


Daylight

by Urponator



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Blindness, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2015-03-11
Packaged: 2018-03-13 22:36:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3398765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Urponator/pseuds/Urponator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was just short lapse of concentration. Now Kuroko cannot see, and he has no idea when his sight will return. He's stuck in this helpless state, but his light is there to support him through these dark days. A request written for a very dear friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> A fic I've been working on for almost a year now, published in FF.net originally. Now I finally got around to making a profile to AO3 after years of procrastination, so I'm still new to this site. Please forgive any rookie mistakes I make. I hope you enjoy!

Kuroko brushed off some of the sweat gathering on his forehead as he panted. Riko had managed to get the Shutoku team to have a practice match with them, and they were on their third quarter now. For now, they were losing, and Kuroko watched worriedly as Kagami kept on jumping. It wouldn’t be good if he got his knees hurt again just for a practice game. Kuroko made a mental note to massage Kagami’s legs later. At least, that would help them recover.

Kuroko shook his head; he should concentrate on the match for now and tell Kagami to tone it down a bit later. He quickly moved towards the net as he saw Midorima preparing to shoot. At least this way, they could try to have a comeback if the green-haired boy managed to throw a successful shot again.

The ball was already in the air before Kuroko reached the net. From the corner of his eye, he could see that at least Kagami had brushed the ball, but it was still in the air. There was a chance it could go in, so Kuroko kept running while staring at the net, waiting for the ball to hit the hoop.

“It’s too short!” Someone shouted out, and Kuroko stopped right before the net. But that was a bad mistake.

Soon he felt the heavy ball smashing against the back of his head, and he couldn’t even try to resist as his legs gave out and he fell to the ground.

“KUROKO!” He heard Kagami’s voice calling, before his brains even managed to register the pain. The pain was horrendous, and he rolled on his side and curled up in a ball, closing his eyes tight. He tried his best to keep himself from screaming in pain, but he couldn’t stop the whimpers escaping from his lips. He had never felt something this painful: the throbbing pain combined with the sharp twinges every time he moved even a little but too rashly.

“Kuroko! Are you alright?” Kuroko could hear Riko’s voice, but all other sounds except his own whimpers were clouded and he couldn’t estimate the distance between him and the one speaking.

“This is why you should keep your eyes on the ball…! Kuroko, can you still move your hands and legs?” Midorima’s voice was a bit clearer, and it sounded like it was close. Kuroko tried to move the mentioned body-parts. To his relief, they moved just fine. The pain was slowly dulling away, and the whimpers were gradually fading away, turning into ragged breathing.

“Do you think you can sit up?” Midorima asked him when he noticed this. Kuroko held his head as he started to sit up, moving as slowly as he could to avoid the harsh pangs of pain. He still kept his eyes closed, with the darkness giving comfort for his pain.

“From scale one to ten, how much it hurts? And can you show me the place it hurts?” The green-haired boy continued his inquiry.

“Right now I’d say nine. But it was ten right after the impact. And I get these sharp throbs every time I make sudden moves.” He explained while trying to show with his hand the place it hurt the most. The hard part was that his head hurt pretty much all around, with some places hurting more than the others.

“I see. Could you open your eyes? I just want to make sure there’s no blood…” Midorima’s voice muttered down towards the end, so that Kuroko was the only one who probably heard the last part. It seemed he didn’t want to worry the others without a reason, and Kuroko shared the motion. He slowly opened his eyes, but…

Nothing changed.

The same darkness surrounded his vision, and he let out a small gasp.

“Shin-chan, you’re like a doctor, you know~!”

“Shut it Takao, now’s not the time. It seems everything’s okay… Why’re you looking so shocked for, Kuroko?” Midorima asked and Kuroko blinked couple of times, hoping that it was just some… mistake or something. But no matter how many times he blinked, he couldn’t see anything.

“Midorima-kun, I cannot see.” Kuroko explained, and he could hear few shocked gasps around him.

“… Kuroko, I need you to do three things for me.” Midorima started, “First, raise your both hands as high as you can.”

Kuroko obeyed, extending his arms. There was probably a reason for this, so it’d be better to do what he was told to.

“Now, form a sentence. Anything you want, but don’t take too much time to think about it.”

“I want to drink a vanilla shake right now.” Kuroko said what was on the top of his mind at the moment, and he could hear Kagami choke on a chuckle. A small smile came to his lips at this: he didn’t want to worry Kagami too much with this, and it was good if he could still at least laugh at his jokes.

“Well, it seems you can do the third task as well. Luckily, it seems that at least there’s no bleeding on your brain. Are you still unable to see?” Midorima fretted, and suddenly Kuroko felt a sweaty hand on his forehead, checking his temperature.

“No, nothing. The pain has dulled down a bit though, to somewhere between six and seven.” Kuroko informed. He startled when he suddenly felt someone grab his hand gently.

“Can you stand up?” Kagami’s voice called to him, as Midorima’s hand disappeared from his forehead. Taking support of the offered hand, Kuroko started to stand up slowly, and soon he felt Kagami’s other hand supporting him as well, holding his other hand. Now that he was standing, the pain increased a bit for a moment, but it didn’t take long for it to continue decreasing.

For the pain the worst was over, but standing up without being able to see was frightening. He could somewhat sense the people close to him, but he had no way of telling them apart, save for Kagami who was still holding his hands, apparently too worried to realize it. Kuroko decided not to mention it for now, since it made him feel safe and the light would certainly pull away if he noticed.

“I think we should stop the practice match here, since Kuroko-kun needs to be taken to the hospital.” Riko said worriedly, from behind Kuroko. As a reflex, he turned to look at her direction, still seeing nothing.

“You’re right. Do you mind if I join you? I feel responsible for this, so I’d like to make sure he’s okay personally.” Midorima said. Now that Kuroko thought more about it, his voice was slightly trembling, and he wanted to tell his former teammate that it wasn’t his fault, and that Kuroko should have kept his eyes on the basketball.

“Kuroko, come with me. I’ll help you change.” Kagami interrupted him before he managed to say anything, gently raising his hands to his shoulders and guiding him on. Kuroko was unsure about walking at first, but he trusted his light and started to take short steps. He could hear Riko negotiating with the Shutoku’s coach and Midorima, and he leaned a bit closer to Kagami.

It had been a bit easier to pretend to be alright and not scared when he had been with everyone else, but now that it was just him and Kagami, he could let himself be scared and uncertain, without the need to hide his real feelings. He felt the gentle hand carefully ruffling his hair reassuringly, and Kuroko sighed in relief, his legs and hands trembling in fear.

“I’m sorry, Kuroko…” Kagami whispered quietly, and Kuroko tilted his head in wonder.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand. There’s no need for you to apologize.” He answered quietly as well, when Kagami stopped him to open the door for them. To Kuroko’s relief, he kept still his other hand on the shadow’s shoulder. The red-haired boy was even now being so considerate and caring, that Kuroko couldn’t understand why he would feel the need to apologize.

“If I had managed to properly block his shot, this wouldn’t have happened. Argh! It makes me so mad, if I just had jumped right away when he got the ball…” Kagami cursed to himself as he took a hold of Kuroko’s shoulders again, walking him in the changing room. A faint smile took place on Kuroko’s lips as he bumped his head lightly against Kagami’s shoulder.

“Kagami-kun, you’re an idiot. This wasn’t your fault, not at all. I should thank you instead, actually, for being here for me. It makes me feel safer when you’re by my side, so I’m really grateful you’re with me.” Kuroko explained, leaning against the shoulder as they stood still for a moment. Kuroko could feel Kagami burying the lower part of his face on his hair, breathing his scent in slowly.

“… Of course. I’m your light, I’ll always be by your side.” He whispered quietly and Kuroko nodded happily.

* * *

 

Midorima started to change when he got to his locker. Even though Riko had assured him that it wasn’t his fault, he still couldn’t shake off the feeling of responsibility. He was really glad he had learned first aid on his free time, this way he could at least eliminate the worst possibilities. But, he had yet to read anything concerning blindness after being hit.

His hands trembled as he curled them into fists. If Kuroko was going to be blinded forever for this, he could never forgive himself, and he was pretty sure that no one else would either. He knew that it was irrational to place all the blame on himself: he had been just playing normally, but it still didn’t change the fact that the ball had left from his hands before the impact.

He was so buried on his thoughts, that he didn’t hear the door opening and the approaching steps, before someone wrapped his arms around his torso.

“Shin-chan, are you okay?” Takao asked as Midorima turned around on the loose hold, looking down at his partner. He’d never say it aloud, but seeing Takao’s face made him feel better. This person would forgive him, if no one else did. On a moment’s impulse, he placed a small kiss on Takao’s forehead. To his enjoyment, a slight blush spread to the hawk’s cheeks at the rare motion. Takao grinned happily, trying to hide the fact he was embarrassed.

“Aww, Shin-chan’s all lovey-dovey~ Don’t worry, I’ve never heard of someone losing their sight permanently after being hit by a basketball, so Kuroko should be fine.” Takao reassured him as he released his hold to let Midorima continue changing.

“If you haven’t kept a record of all the basketball-related accidents, I’m afraid it’s fully possible. But you’re right, it is extremely unlikely. Sight isn’t something that you can lose so easily. So I’m not really worried. Besides, I just did what I usually do, Kuroko should’ve kept his eyes on the ball.” The green-haired boy explained. Takao just grinned at his answer.

“Got it, got it~ Your heart’s words have been received, Shin-chan. Do you want me to come with you, or will you be okay on your own?” He asked as Midorima closed off the buttons on his uniform. He shook his head as an answer.

“It’s better if there’s not a huge crowd with him. But I guess it’d be good if there was someone to train with me for a while when I come back.” Midorima said, with his back turned on Takao. The hawk grinned cheerily as he saluted. “Oh, and Takao… You wouldn’t happen to have candy with you?”

“Uhm… I think I have some. Why so?”

Midorima hesitated a moment, before admitting defeat. The other would find out anyways.

“… It’s the lucky item for Aquarius.”

Not long after he had said that when Takao had tackled him, rubbing his head against his chest with a blissful look on his face.

“Shin-chaaaan~ It’s illegal to be so adorable! So cute! Too cute! Shin-chan!” He chanted happily, and Midorima sighed, used to Takao’s tomfoolery.

“Yes, yes… Just give me the candy.”

* * *

 

Kagami tapped his foot restlessly as the doctor examined Kuroko’s eyes. He was super afraid. If Kuroko lost his sight now, he wouldn’t be able to play basketball anymore. And that was something Kagami most definitely didn’t want. The doctor looked perplexed and she was slightly frowning as she put the small flashlight down.

“It seems that your eye is working just fine, your pupils react to the light correctly. In this situation, I think it’s the shock that has caused this. The nerves that should carry the picture of what you see from your eyes to your brains are not working properly. With time, your nerves should recover from the shock.” She explained carefully, trying to make it as understandable as she could.

“So… Will his sight return?” Kagami asked to confirm, and the doctor nodded.

“Yes, but it might take a while. There’s no easy way to determine that time, but it could take from a week to few months, even. It’s also possible that you will regain your sight slowly with time, or you might suddenly see with your other eye… There are some exercises you can do, but there’s no guarantee they’ll work in your case. Nerves differ much in their recovering capabilities.” She continued her explanation, and Kuroko nodded. Kagami let out a sigh of relief. It was great that it wasn’t permanent.

Kagami glanced at Midorima, who was listening closely to the doctor’s words. He seemed to be a bit more relaxed now after the good news.

“Thank god it’s not too serious!” Riko exhaled and Kuroko nodded. The doctor explained for a while the different exercises that could help regain the sight, and after making an appointment for the control visit, they were allowed to leave. Kagami quickly reached for Kuroko’s arm, to help him walk outside.

“Thank you, Kagami-kun.” Kuroko nodded gratefully. Kagami had refused to leave his side for now: it was too dangerous for the boy to walk on his own, and he didn’t trust anyone else enough to handle the shadow, so he had been taking care of him. Kagami sighed. How was Kuroko going to get to school at this rate? Or home from school? He expressed his worried to Kuroko, who nodded.

“I’m kind of worried about that as well. After all, there’s no one at home now. My parents and grandmother left for a month-long trip, leaving me alone at home. I wouldn’t want to interrupt their long-awaited vacation…” Kuroko sighed as they walked out of the building. Midorima walked a bit away from them, apparently to call someone.

“Eh?! There’s no one at your place?” Riko exclaimed, “That won’t do! Do you have any relatives who live close-by? Or friends… That’s it! You can go to Kagami-kun’s place, right?” She offered and Kagami nodded. He didn’t really have anything against it: on the contrary, he was happier that way. He could look out for Kuroko himself, and thus he wouldn’t have to worry after him all the time, and he would also get to spend a lot of time with his shadow…

He couldn’t deny that the idea was appealing, spending time alone with Kuroko… Maybe he’d finally be able to find a good moment to confess. Kagami took a better hold of Kuroko’s arm, and then he realized the boy couldn’t have seen his nod.

“It’s fine with me.”

“Thank you. I’ll be in your care then, Kagami-kun. I’m sorry for asking for your help again, but could you help me call my mother? I cannot use the phone without seeing anything, so…” Kuroko asked as he dug his phone from his bag. Kagami took the phone with his free hand, keeping the other on Kuroko’s arm still, and started to search for the correct contact. He pressed the call button and settled the phone on Kuroko’s ear already.

“It’s dialing.” He announced as Kuroko nodded, reaching with his hand to hold the phone himself. Kagami turned to look back front, to see Riko staring at them with a small smirk. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what she was grinning about, and he decided not to even ask. It wouldn’t be anything good anyways, so he’d probably be happier not knowing.

Kuroko’s mother apparently answered, as Kuroko began to converse with her. Kagami felt bit uncomfortable being so close when the shadow was having a private call: he could even hear faintly the voice of his mother. But he couldn’t let go of Kuroko, so he just had to deal with the awkwardness. Riko was typing a mail to someone – probably to Hyuuga – and thus couldn’t talk with him either.

In an attempt to not listen in to the conversation, Kagami started to think what he should prepare for Kuroko’s visit. They could go shop for groceries, and then go pick up some stuff from Kuroko’s place. They’d probably have to take Tetsuya #2 as well. Kagami shuddered: the thought of having a dog at his home was terrifying, but he’d have to get used to it. Besides, Tetsuya #2 wasn’t as bad as the other dogs: at least he hadn’t bitten Kagami, yet.

Kuroko finished his call and put his phone back into his bag, relieving Kagami from the awkwardness.

“What did she say?”

“It’s okay. She was going to come home at first, but I managed to persuade her that I’m in good hands. Though, she said that she’d like to meet you when they come back, so that she can thank you.” Kuroko explained. Kagami nodded, before he realized that Kuroko couldn’t still see him.

“Yup, got it.” He voiced out. Midorima returned to them, seemingly finished with his phone call as well.

“Sorry. Takao has always too much to say, so it always takes a while with the phone calls. I need to return now, Kuroko, but do you mind if I come to visit you once in a while? I still feel responsible, so I’d like to check in your situation.” Midorima asked, seemingly feeling uncomfortable. He probably didn’t want to admit he was worried.

“You need to ask Kagami-kun. My parents aren’t home, so I’m staying at his place.” Kuroko said. Midorima looked at him with a frown, and Kagami returned the expression. For a moment they stared at each other, before the green-haired boy gave up with a sigh.

“Then, do you mind if I come to see Kuroko?” He asked reluctantly and Kagami had to do his best not to shake his head just to annoy the spectacled boy. With great effort, he nodded. After they had dealt with this, they could finally head off. Midorima then left after a brief conversation with Kuroko.

The three of them stayed, to wait for Riko’s father to pick them up. Kagami ruffled Kuroko’s hair tenderly. He was going to take care of everything until his partner would regain his sight.


	2. Chapter 2

Kuroko closed the door behind him and made double-sure that the door was locked. After buying groceries, they had went to his house to pick up his stuff. Kuroko let out a small sigh. It had been a fight of its own to even get here. Too late they realized that Kagami had never been to his house, so Kuroko had had to guide him as well as he could. Luckily, everything had gone well.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to carry your bag for you?” Kagami asked and Kuroko nodded.

“You’re already carrying our groceries.” He reminded as he reached for Kagami’s arm, his hand grasping around lonely as he tried to locate his light. Kagami offered his arm to him soon after, and Kuroko took a hold of it gratefully. They started to walk, with Tetsuya #2 walking beside them – at least, Kuroko assumed he was.

Kuroko took a better hold of Kagami’s arm. He had originally feared that Kagami would be embarrassed about walking around like this, but he didn’t seem to mind that much. Even when they were in the shop he hadn’t mentioned anything about it. Kuroko came to the conclusion that Kagami had probably gotten used to this kind of thing in America, so he wasn’t too bothered about having someone holding his arm.

Or, it could also be that Kuroko was an exception. At least he wanted to hope it was like that. Kagami had been showing some signs, and Kuroko hoped he had read them right. Even though he was satisfied with their current relationship, of course he’d be happier to know whether his light could properly be _his._

But for now, Kagami allowed him to be close with him, and that was fine.

Kuroko frowned. He just hated the fact that he couldn’t see his light for a while now. He was going to miss all those cute expressions and reactions of Kagami’s. As he agonized over his realization, he didn’t even realize that they had walked off the course to Kagami’s house, before the taller boy stopped.

“Kagami-kun?” Kuroko asked in confusion. He was pretty sure that Kagami’s house was a bit further away than this.

“Sorry, but could you wait here for a sec? I’ll be back in a minute, I promise.” Kagami said. Kuroko tilted his head. To be honest, he would rather avoid being alone. But it wouldn’t be good either if he bothered Kagami all the time. He wouldn’t die for being alone for a small moment.

“It’s okay. I’ll wait here with Number #2.” He said. He let go of Kagami’s hand and knelt down. He called for the dog while keeping his hands extended. Soon he felt the soft fur against his hands, and after securing a good hold, he lifted him up.

“Okay, just a second.” He heard Kagami’s voice and the footsteps walking away. It was then that Kuroko realized that he was completely vulnerable right now: he could hear the voices of strangers, but he couldn’t see them at all. He petted Tetsuya #2 for solace. He wasn’t completely alone. Kuroko closed his eyes, feeling more comfortable that way. He couldn’t see anyways, so at least he could try to fully focus on his other senses.

He could hear two voices approaching: two girls were talking and coming towards him. He could only hope that he wasn’t standing in the middle of the walkway, it’d be rude to stand in others way. Soon the girls passed by him, and the small wind carried the sweet fragrance into his nose. Girls always smelled like flowers or something sweet like that. They smelled really good, and Kuroko thought that he must be weird for liking the smell of Kagami’s sweat during their practice more.

Suddenly he heard a loud crash from somewhere, and he startled, almost dropping Tetsuya #2. He tried to open his eyes to look, but he couldn’t see anything, as he should have expected. He tried his best to listen, and a cursing voice carried over to his ears. He could make out only few words besides the curse words, one of them being _cellphone._ Apparently someone had just dropped their phone.

Kuroko sighed in relief, and started to pet Tetsuya #2 as an apology for almost dropping him. It was stressing, not being able to see what was happening around him. And without someone to explain, he could only rely on his hearing to determine what had happened. Hopefully, it would get easier with time.

Soon he could hear familiar steps returning to him, and he lowered Tetsuya #2 on the ground.

“Sorry that it took a bit longer. There was a small line.” Kagami explained and Kuroko felt his hand being grabbed. As Kagami pushed something on it, he wrapped his fingers around it. When he recognized it as the milkshake cup from Maji Burger, a happy smile broke to his lips.

“You said you wanted a vanilla shake, didn’t you?” Kagami said. Kuroko could hear the embarrassment in his voice, and he could see the slight blush on his cheeks in his mind as well. It was a shame that he couldn’t see it properly, but the thought was enough for now. But to think that Kagami really remembered what he had said to Midorima, he himself had almost forgotten it…

“Thank you, Kagami-kun. This makes me incredibly happy.” Kuroko said as he lifted the straw to his lips. He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but it even seemed to taste better than usually. And it also soothed his soul; losing his sight wouldn’t take his vanilla shakes from him.

“You’re easy to please.” Kagami chuckled. Kuroko reached for his arm with his free hand, and they began to walk. Kuroko hummed happily as he drank his vanilla shake, unaware of the tender gaze that was directed at him for this.

* * *

 

“I guess I should start cooking right away. I’m starving.” Kagami said as he led Kuroko to his living room. After helping Kuroko to sit down on the couch, he walked to his kitchen, starting to unpack the grocery bags. The shadow turned on the couch towards him, but his eyes gazed pretty off from Kagami; it was probably hard to locate him just based on his occasional footsteps.

For a moment silence filled the air, as Kagami stuffed half of the food into the fridge and prepared the rest for cooking. Occasionally he glanced at Kuroko, who seemed to be in his thoughts, resting his head against the back of the couch.

“Kagami- kun, do you mind if I sleep for a moment? I’m feeling kind of tired…” Kuroko said after a while, as Kagami was starting to chop the ingredients. He looked at the shadow, who was indeed looking a bit tired. It was understandable; this whole thing must’ve been stressing and tiring, to be hit and blinded.

“Of course I don’t mind. Didn’t the doctor say that it’d be better if you rested as much as you could? So you didn’t even need to ask, idiot.” Kagami said and a small smile found its way on Kuroko’s lips as he nodded. Carefully the teal-haired boy lied down on his side, and closed his eyes. Soon enough the calm breathing told Kagami that Kuroko had fallen asleep.

He took a small pause in chopping the ingredients as he watched the shadow sleep. Kuroko hadn’t mentioned anything about his head aching after they had visited the doctor, but Kagami was pretty sure it hadn’t faded away completely yet, not even with the medicine. It was impressive that the shadow hadn’t complained at all about the pain.

In a sense, Kagami wished the other would complain a bit more, and be a bit more selfish. It would give him more chances to help and spoil him. Now he was left trying to guess and deduce what Kuroko might want and need. At least, the vanilla shake had been an easy idea, but after that it was a bit harder.

He sighed as he took out his frying pan. For now, he should at least strive to make food that was easy to eat. He could imagine using chopsticks would be hard before Kuroko got a bit more used to being blinded, so he should make food that could be eaten with a spoon. And fried rice should be pretty easy to handle with spoon. And if there ended up being some problems, Kagami could always just feed Kuroko…

He shook his head to get the picture out of his head. He shouldn’t be so excited about the idea, it wasn’t a good thing. Kagami glanced at Kuroko as he started to fry their food. He was still sleeping peacefully, and it seemed like he was comfortable enough. At least the headache didn’t bother his sleep.

Suddenly Kagami felt something touching his leg, and it took all his might to suppress the surprised yelp as he turned to look at Tetsuya #2. The dog was staring up at him with begging eyes, apparently hoping to get some food. Kagami wasn’t too sure whether he should give food for the dog. They had taken dog food with them from Kuroko’s place, but he had no idea when Tetsuya #2 had last been fed…

Though, if Kuroko’s parents hadn’t been home, and the dog had been alone there for the whole day after Kuroko left for their practice match, it must have been some time. Maybe it’d be best to put some food for him at least, Kagami reckoned.

He then proceeded to put some food for Tetsuya #2, and decided to put out some water as well on the way. Once in a while, he stirred the food so that it wouldn’t burn. After few minutes, he finally settled the two bowls on the floor, one with water and one with food.

“Here you go.” He said and finally returned to cooking his own food. That being said, it wouldn’t be long now before it would be done. Kagami kept stirring the food and occasionally took a glance at Kuroko to make sure he hadn’t woken up by the sounds they made.

When the food was done, Kagami took out a big bowl to put the food into. As he did that, he glanced at Tetsuya #2 and immediately he sighed. The water had splashed on the floor around the bowl. After he had transferred the food into the bowl and set the table, he headed to the bathroom.

“Now where did I put those small towels…”

* * *

 

Kuroko woke up from his sleep when he felt Tetsuya #2 poking his hand that was hanging from the edge of the couch. He sat up, stretching his arms and expecting Kagami to say something. But the other didn’t say anything, and he presumed he hadn’t noticed he had woken up.

“Kagami-kun, is the food ready?” He asked, but got no answer. Apparently Kagami had gone somewhere, probably to the bathroom or something like that. He should be back soon.

That being said, Kuroko still felt pretty uncomfortable. He couldn’t really do anything but sit here with only his thoughts to keep himself entertained. Even Tetsuya #2 seemed to have walked off somewhere. After some time, he’d probably get used to the house and walking around without seeing, but right now it was pretty much impossible. He had been at Kagami’s place pretty many times, sure, but he still didn’t trust his memory enough to walk around carelessly.

To get something to fill up the silence, Kuroko started to search around for the remote. At least he could turn on the television, and find something to listen to. Finding the remote proved to be a harder task than he had thought, and he was almost ready to give up when he heard a loud bang from the other room. He wasn’t sure if he pinpointed it right, but it sounded like the sound came from the bathroom.

“Kagami-kun? Is everything all right?” Kuroko called, but he still didn’t get any answer. He tried to calm himself by reminding himself of the earlier incident where someone had just dropped their phone. It was most likely just something as trivial as that, and there was nothing to worry about.

But it still made him nervous thinking that right now he was the only one here besides Kagami. It was a completely different situation from the one before, where it had been a fairly busy street. Now he was the only one who could help. Hesitantly he got up from the couch, and started to walk towards the bathroom, dodging the furniture as well as he could.

“Kagami-kun?” He called again after he was a bit closer, and this time he heard some bustling from the bathroom followed by hasty footsteps. Relieved, he stopped and waited.

“Sorry, Kuroko. Did that wake you up?” Kagami’s voice soon asked and Kuroko shook his head.

“No, I was already awake. What happened?” He asked as Kagami began to lead him back, taking a steady hold of his shoulder.

“I was searching for a towel to wipe away the water Number #2 splashed around, and the goddamn shelf broke. I was trying to fix it and then I heard your voice.” Kagami explained as he helped Kuroko to sit down on the chair. Kuroko touched the table in front of him and soon his fingers touched a plate.

“I’m sorry for bothering. Did you manage to fix it?” He asked as he continued to feel around the table, looking for his spoon. It was right next to the plate, so it wasn’t too hard. He listened as Kagami apparently fetched the bowl and settled it on the table. When Kagami didn’t say anything, he tilted his head.

“Ah, sorry. I forgot you can’t see. No, I didn’t. I need to visit the town tomorrow to buy some stuff to fix it with.” Kagami explained as he took Kuroko’s plate. The shadow nodded as an answer and took his spoon into his hand, trying to get used to handling it before he heard his plate being returned in front of him.

“I hope you didn’t put me a monstrous amount of food like you do for yourself.” He said as he poked the food with his spoon. Luckily, it seemed to be a reasonable amount – even though it was a bit more than he was used to – and Kagami scoffed as he seated himself on the opposite chair.

“Don’t worry, I know already that you don’t know how to eat enough.” He said and Kuroko scowled.

“You just eat too much, Kagami-kun. Please don’t compare a normal person like me to a beast like you.” He said with a little pout, and he could see in him mind the picture of Kagami grinning with his eyebrow twitching as the light answered him.

“Oi, oi… I think we can come to a conclusion which one of us has eaten enough in his life when we compare our height…” Kagami said back and Kuroko pouted even more, frowning as he chewed on his food, trying to glare as angrily as he could on Kagami’s direction. He was pretty sure that the impact was lessened by the fact that he probably couldn’t have pinpointed his stare correctly into Kagami’s eyes.

“You’re just too tall.” He muttered as he raised his spoon to his mouth again. At the beginning, it had been hard to get food properly on the spoon, but he was getting used to it, the task growing gradually easier. He could hear Kagami snickering, before a silence fell between them, both of them focusing on eating.

Kuroko hadn’t even managed to finish his serving when he heard Kagami taking already more. He probably had had a bigger portion, and yet he finished faster. Kuroko knew he was normal, so it could just mean that the other was abnormal. He nodded to himself, determined that he was right and continued his eating.

After a while – and Kagami’s third portion, Kuroko was almost finished. But now he faced another problem; it was hard to clean the plate, when he wasn’t exactly sure where the rest of the food was. He tried his best to collect it all, and it seemed Kagami noticed his struggle as he took the spoon from his hand.

“Here, I’ll help.” He muttered as he started to collect the rest of Kuroko’s food. Even though it shouldn’t feel like that, Kuroko still felt a bit embarrassed by it. It was a helpless feeling, not being even able to clean his plate on his own. When he heard Kagami was done, he closed his eyes and opened his mouth, waiting for Kagami to feed the rest to him.

Apparently Kagami hesitated for a bit, since it took a surprising long before Kuroko felt the spoon enter his mouth, and he clamped his lips together. He hadn’t thought about it before now, but he could have just taken the spoon with the food from Kagami instead of getting fed, but it was too late to realize that now. He chewed on his food calmly as Kagami pulled the spoon out of his mouth.

“Thank you, Kagami-kun. It was delicious.” He said as he put his hands together and gave a small bow. Kagami just mumbled something as an answer, and continued his own eating. With a faint smile on his lips, Kuroko closed his eyes again and listened to the sound of Kagami eating. He found it strangely enough interesting. He could barely hear the light’s teeth chewing the food, followed by his swallowing.

It didn’t take long for him to get used to the rhythm of Kagami’s eating, and he felt like he had learned a new side of his partner. It wasn’t anything significant, but he was pretty sure no one else knew the exact rhythm behind Kagami’s eating except for the two of them, and probably would never know either. In a strange way, it made him feel even happy.

No one else would ever know the steady and calming rhythm of Kagami’s teeth.

Kuroko smiled to himself. If he could see, he probably would have never learned this. There were some good sides to not seeing, it seemed.


	3. Chapter 3

Kagami was nervously walking around in his living room. Kuroko had went to take a bath, and he couldn’t stop worrying about him. He had tried his best to instruct and show where everything was, putting the towel in a place it’d be easy to get and the clothes right next to it. But it wasn’t like it would still be easy for Kuroko, and so Kagami couldn’t get the image of the shadow tumbling and hurting himself in the process.

So far everything seemed to be alright, but he still couldn’t help being on the edge. Kagami sighed heavily and decided to sit down on the couch. Tetsuya #2 was staring at him with his head tilted, probably wondering why he was so nervous. Being stared by the dog made Kagami even more nervous, as flashbacks of being bitten went through his mind.

Eventually, Tetsuya #2 just whined and started to walk away, leaving him to his problems. Already getting tired from the stress, Kagami took the remote and turned the TV on with the hopes of finding something to distract his thoughts. After browsing through channels, he sighed in defeat when it seemed there was nothing to watch. In the end, he left a drama movie rolling and lied down on his back.

The image of Kuroko waiting to be fed by him flashed through his mind, and he growled quietly. It hadn’t really meant anything, but the sight had been something he had wished to see. He wasn’t even sure which one had initiated the thing; he had indeed taken the spoon, but was it really normal to just expect to be fed in a situation like that?

Kagami didn’t really know. And it didn’t really do anything good to think about it, the moment had already passed.

The faint sound of the bath draining brought him back to the moment. Apparently Kuroko was done. Kagami growled. He had said to Kuroko that he would take care of unplugging the bath, and that he shouldn’t have worried about it… Even though nothing bad had happened, he still frowned. Something _could_ have happened.

He sat up from the couch, and patiently waited for Kuroko to come out. He prepared to wait for a long time, but it took a surprisingly short amount of time. Perhaps he had underrated the adaptive abilities of his shadow. As Kuroko walked out of the bathroom, he turned his head around, apparently trying to hear where Kagami was.

“Kuroko, didn’t I tell you not to worry about unplugging the bath?” Kagami said, and Kuroko focused his attention towards him as he began to take careful steps, with his towel wrapped around his neck.

“I just took it before I left the bath. Kagami-kun, I’m not completely helpless.” Kuroko said huffing a bit before taking his place on the couch as well, slumping down tiredly. Kagami noticed the droplets of water falling from Kuroko’s hair, and with a sigh he took the towel from Kuroko’s shoulders and began to wipe dry the light blue strands.

“It’s not just the blindness I’m worrying about. You still took quite the big hit in your head, so there could be other problems. You should avoid over-exerting yourself.“ Kagami finished his scolding and he felt Kuroko shaking his head slightly with a small smile adorning his lips. The shadow had turned sideways on the couch to make it easier for him to dry the hair,

“I don’t think I’m going to die from just taking the plug off the bath. I appreciate your concern though, Kagami-kun.” he said as he closed his eyes, leaning closer to Kagami’s hands that were still drying his hair. The towel was already getting pretty wet, and Kagami soon realized it had already reached its full potential.

“Fine, but it’s not my fault if you end up fainting.” He growled as he got up from the couch to take the towel away. Kuroko kept his eyes closed anyways, and didn’t change his position. He was still sitting like that when Kagami returned, and it was enough to make him suspect the shadow had fallen asleep.

“Kuroko? You still alive?” He called softly, not wanting to wake up him in case he had fallen asleep. His worries were useless though, as Kuroko shook his head.

“I was listening to this movie. It doesn’t seem that good though…” He sighed as Kagami seated himself on the couch again. He glanced at the TV; a young woman was crying on the screen, apparently mourning over the death of the main character.

Kagami could almost see what was going to happen next, and indeed, soon enough the main character returned. He took the remote and started to go through the channels once more. In his thoughts, he lifted his other hand to Kuroko’s hair and stroked the still slightly wet strands. The TV seemed to be cursed, and eventually he just settled on the news.

“Ah, is it this late already?” Kuroko said as he listened to the newscaster.

“Huh? Yeah, it’s few minutes past ten.” Kagami said in confusion, “Do you watch these news often?”

“My father does, every day.” Kuroko said. He had closed his eyes again, letting Kagami’s hand mess around with his hair. A comfortable silence fell between them, as they listened to the newscaster speak. Occasionally Kuroko asked about the pictures or videos they were showing, but generally they just enjoyed the peaceful moment.

When the news were over, a quiet yawn escaped from Kuroko’s lips and Kagami noticed that the shadow was nodding off, with his eyes closed and leaning against Kagami’s shoulder while the light stroked his hair. He couldn’t stop the slight smile appearing on his lips, and gently he patted Kuroko’s hair to get his attention.

“…Kagami-kun…” Kuroko muttered, like he was about to say something else but apparently he decided not to, as he just waited for Kagami to say something.

“We should go to sleep. You don’t mind sleeping on the same bed, do you? It’s surprisingly spacious.” Kagami asked as he stood up, gently pulling Kuroko up with him as well. The shadow still seemed to be sleepy, as he nodded obediently and followed Kagami to the bathroom. They had unpacked most of Kuroko’s stuff earlier, so Kagami could just grab his toothbrush and put the toothpaste on it for Kuroko.

“Can you brush your teeth yourself or…?” He asked, before the glare Kuroko gave him made him realize how stupid the question was. It wasn’t like Kuroko needed to see his teeth to brush them. He then proceeded to start brushing his own teeth, occasionally giving a worried glance at Kuroko who still seemed to be half-asleep as he lazily brushed his teeth.

Kagami was almost about to tell him to do it properly, but decided to let it go for this time. Kuroko must have been tired after the day, so maybe this much could be allowed this once.

After they were done, Kagami went to fetch a pillow and a blanket for Kuroko, while the shadow headed towards the bed already. When Kagami returned, he indeed found his partner already asleep on the bed, with his blanket wrapped around him. First, he thought of waking him up, but it seemed too cruel.

So in the end, Kagami ended up using the spare blanket and pillow. Kuroko seemed to have left space for him, as the shadow had stuck close to the wall. With a small smile, the light took his place and soon enough, the dreams found him as well. And the only thing on his mind before he fell asleep was Kuroko’s scent.

* * *

 

When Kuroko woke up, it was dark. He quietly sat up, trying to look around but his eyes didn’t seem to be adjusting to the dark. He frowned, feeling a bit frustrated and he tried to blink couple of times. But when the darkness still remained, he began to wake up properly and realized that he wasn’t going to see anything. His eyesight hadn’t miraculously returned overnight, and the slight headache reminded him where he had suffered the hit.

With no way to know whether it was morning or the middle of the night, he tried to touch around the bed, trying to find Kagami. Soon enough he realized he was alone, and presumed that it was morning already. Slowly he crawled his way out of the bed and walked out of the room.

“Kagami-kun?” Kuroko called as he opened the bedroom door, and a good smell filled his nose, making his stomach growl with hunger.

“Ah, you’re up. I was going to wake you up when food was done.” Kagami’s voice could be heard from the kitchen’s direction, and Kuroko let his nose guide his way to him. When he got closer, Kagami apparently noticed the way he was sniffing as he chuckled.

“Are you a dog? I hope you don’t mind eating eggs and bacon for breakfast.”

“... I don’t think I mind. I’ve never eaten bacon though, so I’m not sure if I’ll like it.” Kuroko asked. Until now, he had only seen people eating bacon on movies and such, and he was curious as to whether it was as good as it everyone seemed to think it was.

“Really? Never?” Kagami said and Kuroko nodded as he leaned closer to Kagami, trying to get a better sniff at the food. But his partner just pushed him gently back, and he tilted his head.

“You shouldn’t stick your face too close to the pan. Go sit down, I’ll be done in a minute. Do you want something to drink?” Kagami asked as Kuroko obediently headed towards the table. He nodded eagerly as he sat down, realizing then that Kagami might not be looking at his direction.

“A glass of water would be good. My mouth is dry.” He said to make sure, and soon enough he heard the water running. He could hear the soft steps of Tetsuya #2, soon to be smothered under Kagami’s footsteps as the light brought the glass of water to him. With a small nod, he lifted the glass to his lips, the dry feeling on his lips finally cast away.

“Should I give some food for Number #2?”

“Yeah, but don’t give too much. He won’t have any appetite later otherwise.” Kuroko explained.

“Okay. I’ll give him some after I’m done with our food.” Kagami answered as he returned to making the food. Kuroko emptied his glass and focused his attention on the sounds of the TV that was switched on, only to realize there were only advertisements running. He rested his cheek against the table, feeling sleepy again.

He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds Kagami was making. Now that he really listened, he could hear his light humming quietly, and he smiled at the image that popped in his mind. He completely relaxed listening, and he didn’t even realize he almost fell asleep before he heard the plate clatter against the table and felt a hand rustling his hair.

“Kuroko? Don’t fall asleep, the food is done.” Kagami’s voice called him, and Kuroko lifted his head up from the table, the space soon occupied by a plate instead.

“I wasn’t asleep.” He said as he picked up the fork from the table, “Don’t I need knife?”

“I already cut it all into pieces, so that it’d be easier for you to eat.” Kagami explained from the kitchen, presumably putting out some food for Tetsuya #2. Kuroko stayed still for a moment, holding the fork in his hands.

“… Kagami-kun, you’re like a mother.”

“A simple ‘thank you’ would’ve been enough.” The red-hair said back as Kuroko began to eat. Even though the food was cut in pieces, it was still kind of hard to catch the bacon with the fork. He eventually found a certain way to do it, and by then Kagami had already seated himself by the table as well.

“So, how do you like it?” Kagami asked after Kuroko had eaten half of his food.

“It’s kind of good…” The shadow muttered as he munched his food. He did still prefer a more Japanese breakfast, but after all the effort his partner had had, he didn’t want to sound ungrateful. It was still good anyway, so there was nothing to complain about.

“That’s fine then. I was thinking of going to the town today, so I can repair that shelf as soon as possible. Do you want to stay here or would you rather come with me?“ The red-hair asked.

“I’ll come with you.” Kuroko answered without even thinking about it. Even the idea of just staying all alone in the house with pretty much nothing to do sounded way too boring. He would be just stuck inside, listening to the TV. Of course he could just take a nap in the meantime, but he had slept a lot already and his headache was mostly gone, with only dull throbbing left.

“Are you sure? It might be a bit tiring, and you might get dizzy…” Kagami worried, and Kuroko nodded.

“If I get dizzy, I’m sure Kagami-kun will take care of me.”

“Well, of course I will but… Fine, but you have to say immediately if you feel even a bit unwell, and we will rest. I don’t want you fainting on me.” Kagami scolded and Kuroko jokingly saluted while nodding. The red-hair just grumbled something back, and they continued their eating in silence.

Kuroko smiled faintly. It gave him a nice feeling to have the light worry about him so much.

* * *

 

Kagami went through the nails while occasionally glancing back at Kuroko. He hadn’t even realized at first that since Kuroko couldn’t see himself, he’d be bumping with people a lot more since no one noticed him either. All the way here Kagami had had to help his shadow dodge all the people that passed by them, and now that Kuroko was waiting for him to buy what he needed, the light found himself just overly worried for the shadow’s safety.

He tried to shake his head to get the worries out of his head. It wasn’t like Kuroko would die from a little impact with someone, and the faster he could choose the nails, the faster they would get out of here. When he finally focused on the matter at hand, it didn’t take long before he finally found what he needed.

“Kuroko, I’m done, this was the last thing I needed.” He called to the shadow, who nodded. Kagami noticed that even though Kuroko was trying to look at his way, his eyes were still a little off their mark. With a little peak of curiosity, he tried to shake his hand in front of Kuroko’s face, expecting nothing out of it.

But, to his surprise, Kuroko’s eyes twitched a bit, like they had noticed the movement. It was a faint movement, and if he hadn’t been paying attention, he would’ve probably missed it. That kind of gave him hope; it reminded him that it wasn’t like Kuroko’s eyes weren’t working, and that it would be fixed with time.

“… Are we going?” Kuroko asked, tilting his head and Kagami startled from his thoughts.

“Yeah. I just noticed, your eyes…” he began to explain what he had realized as they began to walk. To Kagami’s dismay, the shadow had pretty much learned to walk on himself by listening to the guidance of his steps, and rarely had the need to hold onto the light’s arm. Of course it was good that he was starting to be able to handle himself, but it hadn’t been a bad feeling to have Kuroko taking support from him.

“Well, the doctor did say that they might react to sudden movements on their own…” Kuroko started to say, when his phone beeped, and he dug it out of his pocket and gave it to Kagami, “Could you read the text for me?”

“Sure, just wait a sec… … Ugh, it’s from Midorima. He’s asking about your condition, like is your head still aching and have you rested properly…” Kagami explained, not bothering to read it out properly.

“How attentive. Tell him that I’m fine, and that I’ve been resting enough already.” Kuroko said with a faint smile, and Kagami began to slowly type the answer, standing still while doing it.

 _‘Kuroko says he is fine. He has been sleeping a lot, and I haven’t let him do anything too heavy. Don’t you worry, I can take care of him properly. -Kagami.’_ He sent the message and returned the phone to Kuroko, and continued to walk to the cashier to pay for all the stuff he was buying, with the shadow tagging close to him. As he was paying, he could hear Kuroko’s phone beeping again, and as soon as he turned to the shadow, the phone was given to him again.

 _‘That sounds too worrisome. I’ll come to visit today, so give me your address.’_ The text said simply, and Kagami felt his brow twitching as a grin took its place on his face.

“That bastard…!” He growled and Kuroko tilted his head with a worried frown, “He’s saying he’ll come to visit today…”

“I… see. Is that okay with you? You sound annoyed.” Kuroko asked as they left the store while Kagami was writing his address down.

“Huh? Yeah, whatever. I promised already, so even though he’s being an annoying prick I’m not going back on my word.” He answered and sent the message to Midorima. He then took Kuroko’s hand and placed the phone in it, and the shadow put it back into his pocket.

“If you’re sure…” Kuroko said. Kagami nodded – not remembering that the other couldn’t see it – and fell into his thoughts. Hopefully Midorima wouldn’t be coming too early, since it would be nice to be able to fix the shelf before that, or otherwise the shooter might complain about it being unsafe and such. He should probably also clean first, wipe away all the dust that had managed to pile up…

Kagami sighed. This gave him the same kind of feeling he assumed he’d feel when his mother-in-law would be coming to visit. The thought of that made him feel strangely weird, and he shook his head to get off the images of him asking Kuroko’s hand from Midorima. After all, that wasn’t something he was planning on asking from Midorima, at least…

Immersed in his imagination, Kagami failed to notice the man who ended up walking onto Kuroko, pushing the shadow effectively to the ground whereas the young man stumbled back.

“Ah! Kuroko, sorry, I wasn’t paying attention!” Kagami immediately reacted and Kuroko just sat up, shaking his head while Kagami leaned over to pick him up.

“What the hell? Shouldn’t you be apologizing to me?” The man grumbled as he glared at them, even though he seemed little taken back by Kagami’s height.

“Huh?! You’re the one who walked into him!” The shadow growled, and was already about to continue arguing back when Kuroko grabbed his arm, calming him down effectively.

“I’m sorry, I got blinded just a small while ago, so I failed to notice you approaching.” The shadow said while bowing slightly. At his words, the frown on the young man’s face turned into a look of regret, as he returned the small bow.

“Ah, no, I guess the fault was mine then, for not noticing you at all…” He said humbly. After few words, the young man scurried off and Kagami sighed. This certainly was problematic, when there was nothing to show anyone that Kuroko couldn’t see. These problems were probably going to come up again, if he didn’t come up with something…

“Kagami-kun, shall we go?” Kuroko asked, nudging his sleeve. Kagami agreed and began to walk again. This time, Kuroko apparently decided to stick close to him again, as the shadow took a hold of his upper arm tenderly. Kagami smiled to himself, somewhat glad that his partner couldn’t see the happy look on his face.


	4. Chapter 4

“Kuroko, lift your legs for a moment.” Kagami’s voice said and Kuroko nodded, pulling his legs up to the couch so that the red-haired boy could mop the floor under his feet. Ever since they returned, Kagami had been pretty busy with housework. After fixing the shelf, he had started to clean up the place. Kuroko assumed it was somehow related to something Midorima had said.

Kuroko instead had been listening to the radio in the meantime; on their way back, Kagami had apparently spotted a cheap radio in a shop they had passed by and decided to buy it. Of course it was possible that it was indeed the case, but Kuroko suspected that the light had planned on buying it from the beginning.

The radio indeed was a much better thing to listen to than the TV, and they had even found an interesting station to listen to. A faint smile found its way on Kuroko’s lips; he truly was happy now.

“Okay, you can put them down again if you want to.” Kagami’s voice pulled him back from his thoughts and he nodded. The floor felt slightly wet against the soles of his feet, and he retreated his legs back. It’d be probably better to wait for the floor to dry, Kuroko thought and leaned against the back of the couch.

“Are you ready?” Kuroko asked when he heard Kagami putting the mop away.

“Yeah, I’m pretty much done now. Just in time, Midorima should be here soon.” The light answered tiredly, and Kuroko heard his footsteps heading to the kitchen. They had bought some snacks, to have something to serve with the tea. Kuroko had been surprised when Kagami had mentioned about it, but apparently the light was doing his best to prove himself to Midorima, so that the shooter would trust Kuroko into his care…

The shadow chuckled silently. It was like Midorima was his mother and Kagami an earnest son-in-law, trying to earn his partner’s hand.

“Kagami-kun, you would make an excellent wife.” Kuroko said his thoughts aloud spontaneously.

“Wha---! First mother and now this? Couldn’t you at least call me a husband instead of a wife?” Kagami growled back.

“Well, I would be glad to have Kagami-kun as either one.” The shadow said without thinking ahead, and realized properly what he had said when an awkward silence fell between them, when the red-hair didn’t answer right away. Kuroko could just imagine the shocked expression on his face, and he tried to think of something to say, to smoothen the mood.

“Kuroko, what did you---” Kagami broke the silence first, only to be cut off by the doorbell, “Goddamn it, that Midorima couldn’t have chosen a worse timing…!” He grumbled and Kuroko heard his footsteps heading to the door. He let out a silent sigh of relief. He would have some time to think of what to say now.

He got up from the couch, heading for the door too. He had a feeling that it’d be better that he was there to calm Kagami and Midorima so that they wouldn’t start to bicker away right away. He got there just in time when the red-hair opened the door.

“Midorima, took your time. I was already getting bored here…”

“Welcome, Midorima-kun. Do come in, the tea will be ready shortly.” Kuroko cut in before Midorima managed to say anything snarky back to Kagami. He’d just have to prevent every quarrel that was about to start, and this visit might even pass peacefully in the end. Though, he had his doubts whether he’d be able to stop these two if they really started to squabble.

“Thank you, Kuroko. Did Kagami make you do the tea…?“ Midorima immediately suspected, earning a small growl from the named red-head. Kuroko quickly shook his head to deny the accusation.

“No, he didn’t. I just don’t have a lot to do, so I usually listen carefully what Kagami-kun is doing, so I know what he’s been up to and when.” He explained as they gave way for Midorima to step inside. The shooter stepped in and took his shoes off while Kagami already headed to the kitchen, leaving Kuroko to handle Midorima. In a sense, the shadow was grateful for that; the less the two spent time together, the less chances there were for them to quarrel.

“Are you better now, Kuroko? Is your head alright?” Midorima asked as they were left alone.

“Yes. My headache was mostly gone this morning, and I haven’t had any other problems. Kagami-kun has taken care of me well, and he does almost everything for me. I’m starting to feel like a leech, with the way I take advantage of his kindness.” Kuroko explained, choosing his words carefully so that the green-haired wouldn’t suspect his words. They were the truth, of course but it wouldn’t be a surprise if the other would refuse to believe it anyhow.

“… I see.” Midorima muttered, seeming almost disappointed. Kuroko sighed at this; it would be nice if they could set aside their rivalry someday, but it seemed almost impossible for the two of them. They just clashed in so many ways. The shooter started to head inside, and just as the shadow was going to follow him, his phone started to ring.

“Ah, I’ll take this. You go on ahead.” He said to Midorima, who didn’t say anything and instead kept going. Kuroko took his phone out of his pocket and realized that he couldn’t even check who was calling.

“Good day. Would you mind telling who you are? I cannot currently…”

“ _I know, it’s me, Takao~ What’s up Kuroko? You doing fine and all?_ ” The cheerful voice greeted him from the phone, and Kuroko couldn’t deny that he was kind of surprised. He had exchanged numbers with the Hawk at some point, but he had never expected to get a call from him.

“Yes, I’m okay. Did you need something?” Kuroko asked, feeling quite confused. There was probably some reason Takao was calling him.

“ _I had this little plan~ Is Shin-chan there already?_ ”

“Yeah, he’s currently in the kitchen with Kagami-kun. Did you want to talk to him, or…?”

“ _No, no~ I want to surprise him, so make sure he won’t notice you’re talking with me. You see, I had this little idea that I could come there too…_ ”

* * *

 

“Kagami, when was the last time you cleaned up here?” Midorima asked as he stood in front of the television.

“Hah? I cleaned up today.” Kagami told him, but the shooter shot a glare at him.

“Then what’s up with all this dust here?” Midorima asked as he wiped his finger over the top of the television, and pointing his finger at Kagami. The light was going to comment on how there was no way he could see the finger from this distance, but decided to just walk over to see it – while grumbling of course, so that Midorima would understand how displeased he was over this situation.

When he looked at the finger, he could see only a little bit of dust over the bandaged finger, and it took all might not to yell at the shooter…

“What the hell, there’s almost nothing there! Quit being so nit-picky, it’s not like a tiny bit of dust is going to kill Kuroko! You idiot!”

… At least he had tried. But Kagami just couldn’t hold it when he saw the honestly disapproving look in Midorima’s eyes. The shooter frowned as he pushed his glasses.

“Who are you calling an idiot, you fool. I’m just pointing out your mistakes, it’s not my fault you’re so incompetent you cannot even wipe away the dust properly.” He said back and Kagami growled in despair.

“Are you my mother-in-law or what?! Just sit down at the table, drink that goddamn cup of tea I poured for you, eat some snacks and get your ass out of my house!” He yelled as he started to forcibly push the shooter towards the table. Midorima quickly shook him off like he was a dog.

“Don’t touch me with those dirty hands. I can walk by myself just fine.” He said and Kagami did his best to hold back the urge to strangle the taller guy. He really, really needed Kuroko here to hold them both back; at this rate, Kagami wasn’t sure he could stop himself from getting really, really angry.

Now that he thought about it, Kuroko was taking quite the long time.

“You said Kuroko got a call, but who was it from?”

“Hmm? I don’t know, he didn’t say. He just… Oh.” Midorima cut off his own sentence, looking like he had just realized something. Kagami shot him a questioning look.

“What is it?”

“He told me to go ahead, and I nodded as an answer. I should have said something instead.” He explained and Kagami laughed.

“Yeah, it’s hard to remember that. Don’t worry, knowing Kuroko he probably realized it anyways.” He reassured the shooter, who just nodded, before a disgusted look took its place on his face as he glared at Kagami.

“It’s nasty to have you trying to comfort me. Please refrain from doing that again.”

“What the hell, Midorima?! I was just trying to be nice, and you just had to---!”

“I’m back. Is the tea ready?” Kuroko’s voice cut him off as the shadow walked into the room. Kagami’s attention was switched immediately to him.

“Yeah, I poured it already. Who called you?” He asked as he walked to Kuroko’s side, ready to help him in case something happened. Kuroko gave him a slight smile at the notion, making Kagami’s cheeks redden a bit.

“It was my mother. She asked how I was doing, and wanted to hear how I’ve been handling myself so it took some time to tell her.” Kuroko explained, and tugged at Kagami’s shirt, “Kagami-kun, could you help me find my hoodie? I’m feeling a bit cold.” The red-hair was a bit surprised by the sudden request, especially since the apartment was quite warm in his opinion. He just hoped Kuroko wasn’t coming down with a fever. That would be a sign for something bad.

“Yeah, of course. Midorima, seat yourself in the meantime, we’ll take a second.” Kagami instructed the shooter, who just nodded and sighed. Before he could get any more irked by those small gestures, Kagami took hold of Kuroko’s upper arm and started to guide him gently to the bedroom, where they had put the bags.

As soon as the taller guy opened the door, Kuroko suddenly closed it behind them quietly and gestured for him to stay silent too. Confused, Kagami obeyed and leaned a bit closer like he was instructed to. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he was sure Kuroko had some sort of plan here. But, when he looked at the shadow’s face, he seemed to be bothered himself too. At least, that was what it felt like to him.

“I’m sorry, I lied. It wasn’t my mother who called.” Kuroko whispered to him for starters.

“Okay… Who was it then? And why do we have to whisper?”

“… Takao-kun. He has a plan, and he doesn’t want Midorima to know.” The shorter boy sighed as he said that. Kagami recalled in his mind the Hawk. He was the one always hanging around Midorima, and had that troublesome skill that he used against Kuroko. Out of the court though Kagami had nothing against him; especially since he seemed to like teasing Midorima, which would always amuse him.

“So he needs us to do something? And I’m pretty sure that the answer is yes, but does this plan somehow relate to Midorima?” He asked to make sure. That would most likely make this plan even more amusing.

“I’m pretty sure it does. All Takao-kun told me to do was to stall Midorima-kun here until he arrives. He told me to stay quiet about this, but I thought it’d be better if you knew too. I’m sorry for agreeing on my own.” Kuroko said and Kagami quickly shook his head.

“Nah, I don’t mind. So this plan will be a surprise for us too…” He sighed and straightened his back, “Let’s get your hoodie from your bag now, at least. I’m sure Midorima will get suspicious at this rate.” Kuroko just nodded at Kagami’s words, and patiently sat on the bed as Kagami began to go through his bag to search for the piece of clothing. It didn’t take long to find: the bag had been packed in a surprisingly organized manner, when you think that Kuroko did it blinded.

“Here.” Kagami said as he tossed the hoodie to the shadow’s lap.

“Thank you.” Kuroko said as he quickly put it on and stood up from the bed. They had been here for few minutes already, Midorima was surely getting at least a bit suspicious so Kagami began to quickly lead Kuroko out of the room. As soon as Midorima saw them, he turned to look at them with a suspicious look.

“That took unnecessarily long.”

“Geez, get off my back already! It was buried under the other clothes, so I had to put them back as well.” The red-hair said as he helped Kuroko seat himself by the table, before sitting down as well, grabbing his cup of tea. It had cooled down pretty well during this time, and he could easily lift it to his lips and take a sip without burning his tongue. When he noticed Kuroko taking his teacup, he remembered something.

“Wait, Kuroko. I forgot to put the sugar in for you. It was one and half teaspoons, right?” Kagami confirmed and got a nod as answer. He began to put the sugar in the cup as Midorima began to question Kuroko.

“Have you been sleeping enough? The headaches might be making it hard to fall asleep, but it’s really important that you rest.” Midorima said and Kagami glared at the shooter angrily. There should be a limit how little he trusted him!

“Yes, I have. Besides eating, I spent yesterday mostly sleeping, and I ended up sleeping quite long today too.” Kuroko explained.

“In fact, I told you that already!” Kagami retorted and Midorima just scoffed.

“Moving on, there are few other things I want to ask…” He continued, and began to interrogate Kuroko, ignoring the red-hair’s comment completely. Kagami growled to himself, and focused on emptying his teacup. He’d be happy to throw the goddamn green Miracle out of his home already, but they had to apparently keep him here for whatever Takao was planning. He could only hope that it would be something that would annoy Midorima.

Though, stalling Midorima didn’t seem like a hard job currently; more like, it seemed like he wouldn’t have to do anything to keep the shooter here. Apparently he had a lot of questions to ask from Kuroko, and thus it’d take a while before he would even try to leave. Kagami could just hope that the Hawk would arrive soon and take his partner away. After that, he could spend the rest of the day leisurely with his shadow...

However, the time kept on passing and there was no sign of Takao. Kagami frowned worriedly as Midorima seemed like he was done with his questions as well. When the shooter began to stood up to take his leave, Kagami and Kuroko both hurriedly tried to stop him.

“Wait, Midorima!”

“Midorima-kun, hold on a second.”

Faced with two pleads, Midorima was stunned for a moment, before he frowned and pushed his glasses.

“What is it? If it’s about my original purpose in coming here, I am still not too convinced that Kagami is the best option as a caretaker, but I’m willing to admit that he’s good enough to take care of you for the moment—“ He began to explain, but got cut off by Kuroko.

“That’s not it. But I am relieved to hear that. Before you go… …Kagami-kun has a small request for you.” The shadow ended up passing the ball to Kagami, who shot a small glare at the smaller boy – a glare that went unseen, but that was the least of his concerns for the moment. He wasn’t good at lying, not to mention coming up with them. So this whole situation was completely alien to him and thus, you couldn’t blame him for handling it badly…

“I… Uh… You’re… Taller than me, so you should reach the highest shelf better than me. So, uh, could you return the tea to its place…?” Kagami stuttered out, knowing fully well how awkward and obvious his lie was. Midorima stared at him with an unbelieving look.

“You didn’t even take it out of that shelf.”

“Ah… That’s because, last time I was too lazy to put it into its correct place, so I ended up putting it someplace more useful…” Kagami desperately explained, and the shooter sighed, walking to the kitchen and grabbing the tin containing the tea-leaves. After returning it to its false place, Midorima turned to look at the red-hair with a frown.

“Was that all? Can I leave now?” He asked and Kagami shook his head quickly, trying to frankly come up with some idea to make the other stay. He glanced at the clock nervously; it was almost dinnertime already. He really wanted to know for what reason he was here, struggling to keep this prick here, instead of preparing food for their dinner. If Takao wasn’t going to come soon, he would really just give up and let Midorima leave…

But, like reading his thoughts, the doorbell rang right as Midorima was trying to demand an explanation. In fact, it rang again and again and Kagami growled as he began to stomp to the door.

“I heard it the first time already!” He complained as he swung the door open.

“Sorry, sorry! I was too excited~” Takao’s cheerful grin greeted him immediately. Kagami glanced worriedly at the shopping bags the Hawk was holding in his hands.

“Takao, what are you doing here?” Midorima asked when he came to see who the visitor was. Takao grinned even wider – Kagami wasn’t sure how that was even possible – and lifted the shopping bags up for the shooter to see.

“Hello, Shin-chan~ I brought meat! So let’s eat dinner together!” Takao explained as he closed the door behind him and began to take his shoes off. Both Kagami and Midorima stared at the point guard with unbelieving expressions. Noticing their wondering looks, Takao just laughed loudly and curtly walked past them.

“Hello, Kuroko~ How are your eyes?” His voice could be heard from the kitchen, and Midorima and Kagami looked at each other, for once with agreeing thoughts. Takao’s plan wasn’t going to bring anything good.


	5. Chapter 5

”Whoa! Kagami, you’re surprisingly good at this! Ne, you can make the rest by yourself, right~” Takao said cheerfully in the kitchen, and Midorima glared at their general direction as Kagami quickly retorted. He had been exiled from the kitchen before he even could even do anything, since Takao knew his cooking skills weren’t unfortunately on the same level as his basketball skills. What frustrated him more though was the fact that even Kuroko had been allowed to help, despite his current blindness.

Sure, Kuroko wasn’t really allowed to do anything that involved knives in any way, but it was still depressing to lose to a person with such an obvious handicap. Midorima didn’t really want to believe that he was _that_ bad at cooking, but there wasn’t really anything he could do about it anymore. He had already submitted to his fate, and he could now just wait for the food to be done.

Midorima sighed. In the end, Kagami had proved his worries fruitless. Kuroko was probably in better hands with his light than he’d be with anyone else, judging from the way Kagami fussed over him constantly. It was relieving, of course, even though it was kind of annoying to be proved wrong.

He still felt guilty for the whole accident, and knowing that Kuroko would be fine even with this problem was good to know. No matter how much people tried to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault, he hadn’t still been able to shake off the weight of responsibility from his shoulders. Maybe he indeed was too serious with this matter, as Takao had expressed it but he wanted to be sure that his error wouldn’t lead to anything serious.

Midorima looked at the trio in the kitchen, and let out yet another sigh. It was boring, to just sit and wait.

* * *

 

Takao hummed as he chopped the vegetables. His plan had worked well, and he had managed to surprise them all quite effectively. He had been a bit worried that Kuroko might accidentally spill the beans to Midorima, but the shadow had accompanied him well without even knowing what he had been planning. And this way he had managed to surprise even his accomplice.

 _‘Am I a genius or what~’_ He mused to himself happily, when suddenly he felt Kagami tapping his shoulder.

“I’ll go visit the bathroom quickly, so look after the meat for me.” He said, and handed the spatula to Takao. The Hawk just nodded obediently, and after a small argument with Midorima Kagami disappeared to the bathroom. Kuroko stood there, without anything to do so Takao got an idea. Now that the mother-hen Kagami was gone, Kuroko could finally do something useful.

“Ne, Kuroko. Would you mind chopping the carrots for me in meantime?” He asked and the shadow quickly nodded.

“Certainly.” He answered, and Takao helped him find the knife and the carrots quickly. He knew that it would be better that Kuroko wouldn’t do anything too risky, but he really couldn’t see the harm in chopping some carrots. It wasn’t too hard of a job.

“So, how has living with Kagami been?” Takao asked half out of curiosity and half just to fill the silence.

“He’s been fussing over me this whole time, so most of the time I’ve been just resting…” Kuroko explained and Takao laughed heartily.

“Oh yeah, he seems to be surprisingly the type to worry over people a lot~ Especially the ones he cares about!” Takao explained while he still laughed. He couldn’t get the image of Kagami taking care of Kuroko like he would take care of a little, sick child.

“Does he brush your teeth as well~?” He asked as the image passed through his mind.

“… He actually offered to do it, yes…” Kuroko admitted and Takao got another fit of laughter as he imaged it in his head. He was sure that the two of them had had many hilarious moments with Kuroko’s blindness, and he kind of wished he could’ve seen them. He was sure they would have been great entertainment. From the hallway, he heard the door open.

“You did wash your hands, right?” Midorima immediately checked when Kagami walked back into the room from the bathroom. Takao smirked as the red-hair glared at Midorima angrily. It was amusing to listen to the two of them fight, since they always started from ridiculous things and escalated to something even more ridiculous.

“Of course I did! What kind of person do you think I am?! Especially when I’m making food here, I’d never ever—” Kagami began to protest, but his complaint was quickly stopped short by few words that escaped from Kuroko’s lips.

“Oh, I cut my finger.” Midorima stood up from his chair while Kagami flinched and turned to look at the duo remaining in the kitchen. Kuroko had lifted his finger to his mouth, and Takao started to feel slightly worried as he turned to look away from them.

“… TAKAO!” The yell erupted in the exact same moment from Midorima’s and Kagami’s lips, and despite the obvious danger he was in, Takao couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the two of them being so perfectly in sync, with their thoughts and words. Of course, that only worked to further anger the two angry ones, and as they stomped towards them, Takao’s instincts were clearly telling him to run away. But his laughter had yet to cease so he was quickly caught by Midorima and he felt the shooter’s hand grabbing his head into a strong hold while Kagami hurried to Kuroko’s side.

“Umm… I’m really okay, it’s just a small cut, really…” Kuroko tried to convince them, and in his mind, Takao thanked him for even trying. But Midorima’s fingers just pressed against his head, and his laughter wouldn’t stop so he didn’t really want to try to say it aloud.

“Shin-chan~ That hurts…” He said as he tried to pry the hand off him.

“Of course it hurts, fool! What were you thinking, giving a knife to Kuroko?” Midorima argued, and Takao laughed again.

“You’re saying that like he was a five-year-old kid.” He said and the shooter just sighed, finally letting go of the Hawk’s head. Kagami started to lead Kuroko away from the kitchen to get a band aid for him, leaving the two of them alone.

“Why did you give him the knife?” Midorima asked again, and Takao shrugged as he returned to tending to the meat.

“I just wanted someone to continue chopping the vegetables… There wasn’t any evil intentions behind what I did, I swear~” Takao said cheerfully, and Midorima sighed.

“Then why didn’t you ask me? I might not be a good cook, but even I can chop up some vegetables.” The shooter asked as he took the knife Kuroko had been using until a moment ago. Takao just shrugged.

“Well, who knows how bad you actually are~” He joked as Midorima opened the tap to rinse the knife quickly.

 _‘And because I didn’t want to let you accidentally ruin your precious and important fingers.’_ He added in his thoughts, but he decided not to say it aloud; some thoughts even he wanted to keep to himself.

* * *

 

“Seriously, I can’t believe that… frivolous fool!” Kagami complained and Kuroko couldn’t help a small smile appearing on his lips.

“You’re starting to sound like Midorima-kun.” He said and Kagami growled.

“Anything but that. Anyhow, don’t come to the kitchen anymore. I’ll do everything for you instead, so you just sit on that damn ass obediently.” Kagami said determinedly as he took Kuroko’s hand in his to put on the band aid. The shadow really appreciated his partner’s concern, but he couldn’t help but feel like this wasn’t such a big deal Midorima and Kagami made it seem like. He kind of pitied Takao, who had gotten all the blame even though Kuroko had been the one who had agreed to chop the veggies.

“You’re overreacting, Kagami-kun. It’s just my finger.” He voiced his thoughts aloud and for a moment, he could feel the other squeezing his hand a bit tighter.

“Fingers are important when playing basketball, you shouldn’t really take this so lightly.” Kagami said after few seconds, and his grip on Kuroko’s hand loosened after that. Kuroko was silent for a moment as well.

“But I’m not a shooter like Midorima-kun, so this much wouldn’t affect me… Besides, I cannot even play basketball now, so it’s alright even if I get a bit hurt.” He said quietly, and this time the silence was long enough to be overbearing. Kuroko felt regretful for saying what he had said; even though it was the truth, he still realized he shouldn’t have said it like that. As an attempt to soothe the edge of his words a bit, he squeezed Kagami’s hand gently. The light still remained quiet, even though he did squeeze his hand back to show that he had noticed his attempt.

“… Don’t say so casually that it’s okay even if you get hurt. Because it’s not okay, no matter how small the injury.” Kagami finally said after almost a minute had passed, his voice softer than usually. But even though the tone of Kagami’s voice was softer than usually, it still hurt more than many of the edgy words the light had said in his fits of anger, and Kuroko lowered his head slightly.

“… I’m sorry. I’ll take better care from now on.” He said quietly, and Kagami let go of his hand and stood up from the side of the bathtub he had been sitting on. Without a word, he walked to the door and after opening it, he just waited for a moment for Kuroko to catch up.

“Also. Don’t say you cannot play basketball, even if you mean just for the moment. It’s not a nice thing to hear.” Kagami said quietly after Kuroko had passed him, and closed the door, heading to the kitchen.

“Yes.” Kuroko said and followed after Kagami. He had wanted to apologize again, but he got the feeling that his partner didn’t really want to hear him apologize again, so he kept his words in his mouth. Kagami would understand them even if he didn’t say it aloud.

“Have you made any progress here?” Kuroko heard his partner ask from the duo in the kitchen, and as they started to talk, he walked to the table to sit down. There might have been some work he could have helped with, but he didn’t really want to push it anymore. He was quickly joined by Midorima who had been chased away from the kitchen again now that Kagami had returned.

The shooter let out a long sigh as he seated himself to the opposite place of Kuroko, grumbling something about carrots. The good smell was already spreading through the apartment, and it was most definitely making Kuroko hungry already. He could hear Midorima tapping his fingers against the table restlessly, his pace quickening every time Takao’s voice echoed through the apartment as he teased Kagami for all sorts of things.

Kuroko felt like he should say something about it, but he was still feeling a bit down from the conversation with Kagami, and he decided to remain silent instead. The two of them stayed like that for a while, neither of them saying a word and instead listening to Kagami and Takao talk as they made the food.

* * *

 

“Seriously?! You don’t like dogs because you were bitten by one?” Takao asked, as he apparently struggled to hold back his laughter. Kagami frowned; he was beginning to understand why Midorima got angry with Takao so often. It was hard to stay in tune with the Hawk’s thoughts, as he seemed to be thinking ahead by a mile.

“I don’t see what’s so funny in that.” Kagami said and the point guard grinned as he pointed at Midorima.

“You see, this guy doesn’t like cats because he was scratched by one~ It’s just so hilarious, you’re so similar, gwahaha~” Takao’s laugher finally burst as he explained what he found so funny, and Kagami looked at Midorima to confirm Takao was speaking the truth. The shooter’s expression told him everything and he just buried his face into his hands. This was so tiring. Kagami couldn’t understand how these two could stand each other every day.

“Sorry, sorry~ I just thought it was hilarious. Are you okay with this little fella then?” Takao asked, referring to Tetsuya #2 that he was playing with.

“… I’ve gotten pretty much used to him.”  Kagami answered hesitantly. Truth of the matter was that while he was used to the dog’s presence, he still was kind of hesitant with actually being in close proximity with it. So if Takao decided to test it out, he couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t react, and thus he hoped that the Hawk would let him go with this.

“Well, probably since now you have to even live in the same house you kind of have to.” Takao said surprisingly mildly, continuing to play with the dog without moving from his spot. Kagami suppressed a sigh of relief, and glanced at Kuroko while the other two started to talk about something he didn’t really care to listen to. The shadow was sitting on the sofa, just silently listening to the duo with them bickering, without noticing Kagami looking at him. Which shouldn’t have really surprised Kagami, as he realized soon enough.

He glanced at Kuroko’s hand, where he had placed the band aid. He knew that he had kind of overreacted over the cut, but no matter how much he thought about it, he felt like Kuroko’s words had been just too much. So he was convinced that he had had the right to get a bit angry.

But looking at Kuroko now, he still couldn’t shake off the feeling of guilt. It might have been just a faint difference from the usual, but Kagami was pretty sure the shadow was feeling a bit melancholic over it. After all, Kuroko was surprisingly sensitive to actual arguments, even though he had no problems with the casual bickering they had. Not to mention that despite his claims of being all right with it, the sudden blindness must also be putting quite the heavy stress on him.

… The more Kagami thought about it, the worse he felt. Even if Kuroko had been the one wrong in that situation, he should have tried to be understanding. It couldn’t be helped that Kuroko was feeling a bit crappy in this situation, and when he had just showed a tiny bit of the weakness currently haunting him, Kagami hadn’t even thought twice before getting angry.

Kagami sighed. He really felt like he should apologize, but he couldn’t really think of how to bring the topic back without making it awkward again. Hopefully things would just work out…

As he was finally reaching the conclusion of his thoughts, suddenly the feeling of wet tongue on his nose startled him and he whelped as he jumped away from Tetsuya #2 Takao was holding right in front of his face. The Hawk started to laugh at his reaction and all his thoughts and worries were forgotten for a moment as Kagami started to complain to Takao. Maybe there was something good about the point guard after all.

* * *

 

It was pretty late when Midorima and Takao finally left. The Hawk had been too excited over the visit, and hadn’t really wanted to leave so he had prolonged it longer and longer, until finally Midorima had gotten tired of it. After they left, Kuroko and Kagami decided to eat something light before retreating to the sofa to watch TV for a short while before going to sleep.

The mood between them was still slightly awkward, and Kuroko couldn’t really focus on the sounds he heard from the television. Neither of them had touched the earlier subject, and instead they were filling the silence with occasional, trivial conversation that didn’t really serve any other purpose. Kuroko wanted to really get rid of this air between them, but he couldn’t find any words to say to bring the matter up.

And to top it off, he felt like his temperature was slightly up. The doctor had told to prepare for slight raise in temperature for the first few days, so he wasn’t too surprised. It was making him feel tired and weak, and he lifted his knees on the sofa to bury his face into them and wrapped his arms around his legs. Kuroko knew that there was no point mulling over it, but he wished he could just change the past so that he’d have never gotten hit. He wouldn’t be helpless like this, and he wouldn’t have to worry the people around him.

“Kuroko? Everything alright?” Kagami asked soon enough, and when Kuroko didn’t answer right away, he brushed the shadow’s hair with his hand. Kuroko couldn’t be certain, as his sight was still gone, but he was certain Kagami was looking at him with a worried expression.

“Yes.” He answered as convincingly as he could, but he knew that his partner would see through his attempt. For a moment Kagami didn’t say anything, leaving the awkward silence to weigh heavy on their shoulders.

“… You know, all this time we’ve known each other, you’ve been always supporting and helping me from the shadows, and I’ve always relied on you because of that.” Kagami broke the silence before it grew overbearing, “And I… I’ve realized that there’s nothing wrong with that, with relying on your teammates and especially on you. Because you’re always there behind me, I can be brave and do what I do. But I also realized one day that just like relying on you, I… I want to be relied on. I might not be as reliable outside the court, but I still want you to trust me…” Kagami finished his explanation as his voice gradually faded away, and Kuroko turned his face towards his partner.

Once again he found himself wishing he could see the look on the red-hair’s face right now, to see the probable blush that had spread on his face as he frowned, trying to look like he wasn’t feeling completely embarrassed.

“… I just thought I should tell that to you too, instead of thinking it myself!” Kagami added, his voice a bit louder this time and a small smile found its way on Kuroko’s lips, as he awkwardly reached with his hand, having to search for a while before he finally connected with his target. He petted Kagami’s hair, and he felt the light turning to look at him, probably with a confused expression.

 _‘You’re so cute, Kagami-kun.’_ Kuroko thought to himself as his fingers slipped through the hair.

“Thank you. It was wrong of me.” He says quietly.

“… So, everything alright?” Kagami asks soon, gently removing Kuroko’s hand from his hair and instead bringing his own hand to Kuroko’s hair, ruffling it comfortably.

“... I have a slight fever, as the doctor predicted I could get. My head is also aching, and I am really tired, and I would like to go to sleep already.” Kuroko confessed this time, and he heard his partner standing up from the couch. For a moment he wondered whether the light would get angry at him for complaining too much, but to his surprise he found himself lifted up swiftly to bridal carry.

“Um, Kagami-kun?” He asked in confusion, as he quickly clung to his partner’s neck, feeling unsure and scared being carried while not able to see. Kagami just took a better hold of him, reassuring him to feel slightly safer. It was still unsettling not being able to either see or feel anything concrete under him, and Kuroko leaned closer to his partner, taking refuge against his chest. Taking a bit of an advantage of the situation, he discreetly nuzzled his forehead against Kagami, and he felt the other burying his face into his hair for just a second, before he lifted his head again and answered him.

“If you’re tired, then you have to sleep! Simple as that!” Kagami said as he began to walk. Kuroko nodded, slightly confused as he was carried to the bedroom, where Kagami lowered him gently to sit on the bed. Kuroko felt a small smile finding its way on his lips once again as Kagami proceeded to check his temperature, pressing his hand on the shadow’s forehead. The teal-haired boy just closed his eyes as he enjoyed the unusually cool hand against his skin.

“It’s quite high, yeah. Get under the covers, and I’ll go get the thermometer, okay?” Kagami said as he pulled his hand away and Kuroko nodded obediently, doing as he had been instructed while his partner left the room. He felt his cheeks heating up a bit as he thought the way Kagami had carried him here.

Though it might have been just a side-effect from the fever.


	6. Chapter 6

”It seems like your fever went down during the night.” Kagami said as he took the thermometer. Kuroko nodded as he pulled the blanket back over him. Kagami was sitting on the edge of the bed, and the shadow sighed as he thought of the long, lonely hours he would have when the other went to the school. Even if his temperature had returned to normal, his head was aching quite badly and he really didn’t feel like trying to get up before it had eased up.

Not to mention that Kagami probably wouldn’t even let him try.

“I’ll bring you breakfast, so wait a minute.” The light said and Kuroko heard his steps walking away from the room. He lifted his right hand to his forehead and rubbed it as a desperate attempt at easing the pain. This headache had dampened his mood, and not even the gentle way Kagami had woken him up by brushing his hair with his fingers hadn’t helped to cheer it up.

Kuroko yawned. He was happy that Kagami had listened to his request of waking him up before leaving, but right now he just wished he could return back to sleep. At least he could return to sleep after the other left; it would make the time pass as well.

The familiar footsteps returned soon.

“I’m back.” Kagami announced and Kuroko sat up, waiting for the other to hand him the tray. Instead, he felt Kagami sitting on the edge of the bed again. He didn’t even have time to say anything before the other already went on with his plan.

“Okay, open wide.” Kagami said and reflexively Kuroko obeyed, opening his mouth and closing it when he felt the warm spoon on his tongue.

“Kagami-kun, there’s no need for you to feed me, I can very well do this myself…” Kuroko protested after gulping down the food. He could hear Kagami already blowing air on the next spoonful to cool it down.

“Sorry, no can do. I don’t have a tray, and I can’t give a piping hot plate to you when you can’t even see. Now, here comes another…” Kagami said without room for refusal, and the shadow decided that it’d be just better to go along with it. He opened his mouth obediently again.

“Oh yeah, and I made some food for you to eat later as well. It’s the only thing on the third shelf in the refrigerator, so you should be able to find it.” Kagami added, and Kuroko made sure to swallow before answering.

“Thank you.” He said meekly. They were silent for a moment, and Kuroko felt like it was a close guess to say that the matter yesterday was the reason for the slight awkwardness. Even though they had talked about it, it still felt like all of it was hanging heavily between them. Even though it hadn’t been an actual fight, somehow it had just brought up the small differences between their views and made everything hard.

And there was no way to return to past and make it all undone. So the only thing now was to try to move on and tend to this matter somehow.

He was ready to do anything to make it all alright between them again.

“Okay then, here comes the car… Wroom, wroom!” Kagami suddenly said with a joking tone, and as Kuroko opened his mouth to ask what the other was doing, the spoon already invaded his mouth.

“Kagami-kun, what are you doing…?” He asked after swallowing, and the other just laughed.

“What, I’m feeding you. This time it’s the train, choo choo!” He said again lightly and this time Kuroko was prepared to open his mouth to eat.

“But this is kind of… Isn’t this a tactic used on babies when they don’t want to eat? There is no need to use such tactics on me, I will gladly eat what you…” Kuroko tried to protest, but Kagami didn’t even seem to listen to him as he just went on.

“And now, helicopter. Hmm… Whup-whup-whup…?” Kagami hesitantly made the sound effect, and Kuroko couldn’t hold back the chuckle as his lips stretched into a smile.

“Hah! Got you to smile!” Kagami said cheerfully, “Great that I got you to cheer up a bit before I leave. The plate isn’t that hot anymore, so you can take it now.” He continued, and grabbed Kuroko’s hand to guide it to the plate so that he could take a hold of it before letting go.

“It’s that time already?” Kuroko asked as he secured a place for the warm plate on his lap.

“Yeah. I’ll call you before practice begins, so keep your phone close. It’s right here on this table, as is the radio.” Kagami explained and Kuroko felt his weight lifting from the bed, leaving a slightly light and empty feeling. He hadn’t even noticed that the other had brought the radio here, but when he reached for the table with his hand, and it was right there. Perhaps it had been there even before Kagami had woken him up.

“Okay, I’ll keep it close. Have a good day at school.” Kuroko said as he waved, hoping that he was waving in the right direction.

“Yeah, see you later.” Kagami said and then Kuroko heard the door close. A wave of coldness washed over him as he realized he was truly alone now. He clutched his fingers around the plate on his lap and sighed. He should just eat as quickly as he could and return to sleep. The silence of being alone felt heavier than it usually did, and he decided to put the radio on to get some background noise in the room.

He emptied his plate in couple of minutes and after setting the plate next to the radio, he snuggled under the blanket and closed his eyes, his headache reminding him of its existence. He could hear the talk-show on the radio, but he found it hard to completely recognize what they were actually saying as his consciousness began to quickly drift him to sleep. He could hear the people laughing in the radio at something, and he briefly wondered whether Kagami would’ve laughed at the joke as well.

Kuroko would’ve liked to see that laugh, he thought before he fell asleep.

* * *

 

Kagami tapped the table with his index finger impatiently as he watched the seconds pass by. It wasn’t even close to the time school would end, but the next break would be lunch break and he had decided to check up on Kuroko during it already. He’d just have to eat quickly and find a remotely peaceful place where no one would disturb him.

But the clock seemed to be annoying him on purpose, the seconds ticking so slowly that he could’ve sworn time had been slowed down. How frustrating.

He glanced at the desk behind him, the lonely sight greeting him. It was weird not to have Kuroko sitting behind him. On normal days, by now Kuroko would’ve been staring out of the window, at first glance seeming to be unaffected by the hunger, but if you just paid close attention you would notice how he kept biting his lips with small, barely noticeable movements. And when the bell finally rang to tell the class had ended, the shadow’s eyes would brighten and turn to look at Kagami with an expectant look.

Kagami sighed. He wished Kuroko would be better by the time he got home. He didn’t dare to even hope that Kuroko’s eyesight would’ve returned already, but if even that headache that seemed to torment him could be rid of, he’d be satisfied.

The clock ticked on and on, and now there was less than a minute left. Kagami already closed his textbook and stared restlessly at the clock until the bell finally rang.

He stood up from his chair and began to quickly walk towards the cafeteria to get bread. As he walked, he noticed how he really was able to just walk in his brisk pace. Usually he had to slow down to match Kuroko’s pace, and now that he was free to walk how he wanted, a lonely feeling made a nest into his heart. Just getting the food faster didn’t really compensate for the lack of company.

‘ _Maybe I’m too dependent on Kuroko…_ ’ He thought as he realized he never really talked to any of their classmates. Few conversations here and there with some of the guys and sometimes even the girls came to talk to him a bit, but never really anything that could be called being friends or probably not even buddies. He didn’t really even remember the names of half of their classmates.

He never had felt any need to get along with them; during breaks he had almost always had Kuroko with him, especially lately, and other than that he always had the people from the basketball club to keep him company. Now that he was alone without his shadow, he felt a bit regretful. It would be nicer to eat with someone else, while talking about basketball and the matches they had had and would have and…

No one else but the club members would really care about that topic, though.

With this realization, he abandoned all the thoughts of getting along with their classmates. He wouldn’t really have anything in common to talk about with them, and without that something to talk about, it’d be just awkward and hard. The only thing they really had in common was this class and its teachers, and Kagami had never seen any appeal in talking about other people and especially not in gossiping about them.

“I’d like to have three of these, five of these, one of these and two of these.” He told to the old lady when it was his turn, and she nodded with a smile on his lips, unaffected by the quantity of his order. Perhaps she had gotten used to it by now, since at the beginning she always used to joke about it. She began to pack his breads in the bag, while Kagami took out his wallet to gather the payment.

“Here you go!” The lady said soon, offering the bag for him.

“Thank you.” Kagami answered curtly while giving her the money in exchange. She quickly counted it and soon nodded again, the same smile on her lips still. Kagami nodded back and rushed away to give way to the other people in line.

His stomach grumbled quietly as he walked, and he took one of the breads out of the bag and took off the wrapper. He bit on the bread hungrily, and he didn’t even notice the approaching people before they talked to him.

“Hey, Kagami-kun!” Riko’s voice made him startle, and he finally noticed their coach with Hyuuga, “I’m seriously amazed by that appetite of yours. Doesn’t it get expensive to buy that much bread every day?”

“Really, you buy this much every day?!” Hyuuga exclaimed as he examined the transparent bag with awe.

“Well, Kuroko-kun said so. ‘ _Kagami-kun eats like a hungry tiger’_ was how he described it.” Riko added.

“… I’m not sure I want to ask whether you talk about me often. But hello.” Kagami said now that he finally got a chance to say something.

“Where’s Kuroko?” Hyuuga asked after double-checking the shadow really wasn’t there.

“He’s at my place. He had fever last night and a bad migraine this morning, so I told him to stay there…” Kagami explained and took a big bite of his bread after he was done as he reminded himself that he should eat as quickly as possible.

“Aww, poor boy. How has he been after the accident? Has he gotten somewhat used to his blindness?” Riko asked with a worried expression. Kagami knew that she had called Kuroko last night, but maybe she didn’t really trust Kuroko hadn’t assured her he was fine just to make her feel better.

And to be honest, Kagami didn’t even wonder why Riko would think that.

“Yeah, he has been surprisingly okay with it. He gets around pretty well, and has gotten used to doing most of the normal things. He has been quite tired though, and has slept more than usually.”

“That’s good to hear as well, but I was also talking about he’s handling this mentally. I read that sudden loss of eyesight places a heavy stress on person’s mind, since it’s the sense we rely on the most. But well, if you haven’t noticed anything out of ordinary, then I guess he’s handling it well.” Riko said with a smile as she shook her hand, seemingly trying to just make her words pass as meager chattering.

Kuroko had been feeling quite off his usual these past days. Kagami had thought that maybe it was his imagination, but thinking that maybe the stress was causing it made it seem so much clearer. If Kuroko indeed was feeling down because of this, the light felt like he should try to do something about it. He had been the one tasked over with taking care of the shadow, and even more than that he just wanted to help his friend cheer up a bit.

“You will come to practice though?” Hyuuga asked him, and Kagami nodded.

“Yeah, Kuroko told me to go, insisting he’ll be fine. But I should go now, I still need to call him after I’m finished eating so…” He said as he bowed quickly. The upperclassmen just nodded understandingly, and waved him off as he hurried off.

When he finally found a remote place behind the school, he had already finished three of the breads from his bag, and after seating himself down he began to quickly destroy the rest of them as well. Riko’s words were still the center of his thoughts as he worried. He felt kind of stupid for not even realizing that it must have been really hard on Kuroko mentally as well, and he felt quite bad for leaving the shadow alone at home. He knew there was no helping it; he had to attend school and even if he wanted to, Kuroko would most likely not let him skip it either for his sake.

‘ _It’s not like I learn anything anyway…_ ’ He thought and sighed. However he felt that way, he still didn’t want to repeat of the time when the whole team had had to tutor him. No matter how nice it had been that they had gone through the effort, studying without sleep was rough.

As he thought back at the moment, he managed to finish his lunch and he took his phone quickly, dialing Kuroko’s number. It rang for a while before the shadow finally picked up.

 _“Is this Kagami-kun…?”_ The voice that greeted him sounded meek and he presumed Kuroko had been still sleeping.

“Yeah, me. Were you sleeping?”

“ _…Mm, yeah. I was… Are you heading to club now?_ ” Kuroko asked, speaking slowly and faintly, and Kagami had to really concentrate so that he heard every word.

“No, actually. It’s lunch break now, and I thought I’d check up on you… Sorry for waking you up. Have you been sleeping this whole time?”

“ _Mostly. I woke up couple of times._ ” Kagami wasn’t sure whether it was his imagination or not that Kuroko sounded a bit off. But it was probably just the fact that he was still sleepy after being woken up.

“Okay. Is your head still aching?” He asked worriedly. He had given medicine to Kuroko in the morning, but he wasn’t sure whether it really had been enough to last long, or even enough to help at all.

“ _… A bit, but it’s not unbearable._ ” Kuroko reassured him, but his voice wasn’t really convincing.

“If it really hurts, take some medicine. I left the pack on the kitchen table, it shouldn’t be hard to find.”

“ _Mm… Okay. I will._ ” Kuroko mumbled, sounding still tired and weak. It might be better to let him go back to sleep, Kagami realized. He would have wanted to talk more, but it would be just awful of him to force the other to stay up when he was obviously still feeling bad.

“I think I’ll let you go back to sleep now, I just wanted to check up on you in the first place after all. I’ll call again after school, so you just rest and get better.”

“ _Ah, okay. Thank you for calling, it was really nice to hear your voice… See you later._ ” Kuroko answered and Kagami could slight heat rise to his cheeks at the words, even though he knew they weren’t what they sounded like. It wasn’t fair of Kuroko to say misleading things like that.

“Y-yeah, bye.” He said abruptly and hung up. He decided to just sit there for a moment before returning to the classroom.

After all, he wanted the redness on his face to fade before he walked anywhere he could be seen.

* * *

 

Kuroko dropped the phone on the bed after the call was finished, and buried his face into his hands. He was feeling really nauseous, but just the thought of getting up from the bed sounded exhausting. His head was aching even more than it had been in the morning and it felt almost like the exact same pain had spread into his joints.

He knew that these all were the symptoms the doctor had warned him about, so he wasn’t really alarmed about the situation. But it felt even worse than he had prepared for and he really, really wished he could just go back to sleep. Despite what he had said to Kagami, he really hadn’t slept too well after the other had left, the pain waking him up over and over again to the reality. He felt shivers running through his body and with exhaustion haunting his mind, he returned to his haven inside the blanket.

Kuroko just hoped he would get better by the time Kagami came home. He didn’t really want to worry his partner, but if he remained in this state, he felt like it might be inevitable. He remembered the other’s words about the medicine, and he decided to gather all his willpower to get up from the bed.

As soon as his feet touched the ground and he stood up, he felt dizziness banging through his head briefly and he had to reach for the wall to get some support. The headache took a huge leap for the worse now that he was standing and his joints were practically screaming at him.

He slowly began to make his way to the kitchen, deciding in his mind that this feeling was the worst part of this accident instead of the blindness. He wasn’t too sure why this had hit him now, when more than a day had passed with just slight headache and tiredness. Kuroko could just hope that it didn’t mean his condition was getting worse, and that instead the first couple of days had been just the calm before the storm. He remembered he had read from somewhere that sometimes the symptoms didn’t really come from the sickness but instead it was part of the healing process…

Even though he kind of felt like that didn’t really make too much sense with most of these symptoms, but with the dizzy spells he got every so often, he didn’t really feel like arguing against the only hopeful conclusion he could think of when he was feeling this bad.

He had finally reached the table, and after a short search, he found the pack he was looking for. After popping out two pills, he took them with him to the kitchen where he faced his next challenge of finding himself a glass while holding the medicine tight on his other hand.

After struggling for a moment, Kuroko finally managed to get the glass and fill it with water, and with relief he downed the two pills with the water. The cool water felt good to drink after having slept for a while, and he decided to get another glass of it before he would head back to bed. He briefly remembered that Kagami had made food for him to eat, but just thinking about eating something solid made him remember the creeping nausea that had been nagging at him for a while now, and he decided he’d eat once he felt better.

He tried to place the empty glass on the table after he had drank the second class of water, but he somewhat missed and the glass fell into the sink with a loud clink. Luckily it didn’t sound like it had been broken, but the loud sound apparently alarmed Tetsuya #2 who started to bark.

“It’s okay, boy.” Kuroko tried to hush at it, crouching down as he tried to look for the warm fur. The dog seemed to notice it was wanted as it walked to Kuroko, pressing it’s forehead against his knees. Kuroko let a small smile spread to his as he petted #2 gently. He had almost forgotten the dog was here, and knowing that he wasn’t alone made him feel a bit better about this situation.

However, his body didn’t seem to comply with his mental state as he felt another dizzy spell making him almost lose balance, and he resigned to his fate as he picked up the dog and stood up. It was luckily slightly easier now that he had gotten used to being in standing position, and it didn’t take him long before he had reached the bed again. He let down Tetsuya #2 on the bed first before he crawled under the covers himself.

“Don’t tell Kagami-kun I let you into his bed…” He muttered to the dog, who just whined in response and lied down right next to him. Kuroko closed his eyes tiredly, and hoped that the dreams would take him away quickly.


	7. Chapter 7

_”And that ends our talk-show for today! Next, we will have a short break for commercials before we get to interview the famous and talented singer…”_ Kuroko turned the volume a bit lower and turned his back on the radio. He had finally managed to sleep a bit, and the medicine seemed to have helped as well, since he was feeling quite a lot better. There was still a dull ache in his head and joints, but it was completely bearable and the nausea had gone.

He was, however, quite lonely by now. After he had woken up to the empty house, at first he had been just so relieved to be feeling better but with time, he had grown quite bored. He really wished he could read something - even school textbooks would have been fine - but as it was, his only source of amusement was this small radio. And he wasn’t particularly interested in celebrities, so now he could only hope Kagami would call soon. It was about the time for school to end, and the light had promised to call him before heading to practice.

Kuroko petted Tetsuya #2’s fur in his thoughts as he waited. Being this bored just reminded him how precious it was to have Kagami by his side most of the time. He wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to handle this as well alone.

 _‘Of course I wouldn’t have…’_ He thought just before his phone rang, and he quickly reached for it to answer.

“Kagami-kun?”

“ _Yeah, me. It sounds like I didn’t wake you up this time._ ” Kagami said, and Kuroko frowned. He wasn’t really sure what Kagami was talking about.

“This time?” He verified he had heard right.

“ _Uhh, yeah. I called you during lunch break, don’t you remember…?_ ” Kagami asked, sounding instantly worried and confused. Kuroko tilted his head slightly, and tried to remember. Then it hit him like a lightning.

“I remember now. Sorry, I was probably too sleepy, it slipped my mind for a moment.” He said. Well, to be more exact he remembered that Kagami had indeed called, but the content was still kind of fuzzy. But he had been sleepy and not in his best condition, so it was probably understandable. He just had to make sure that his partner wouldn’t get too worried about it either, since it didn’t really mean anything.

“ _Well, no wonder. You sounded like you’d fall asleep any second back then. How are you feeling?_ ” Kuroko almost sighed in relief, but instead he just took a bit more comfortable position on the bed, lifting the pillow between his back and the wall.

“A lot better. I slept for quite long.”

“ _The doctor did say you should rest, so I guess it’s good you do. Have you eaten already?_ ” Kagami asked and for a moment, Kuroko wondered whether to tell the truth or not. After all, he didn’t really want to tell Kagami that the reason he couldn’t have eaten it before was before he was so nauseous.

“No, I haven’t yet. I was just planning on doing that, though.” He said, deciding that it was better to be truthful. He didn’t really want to lie to his partner, and this wasn’t really that big of a deal. Just yesterday they had even kind of fought about similar stuff after all, and he didn’t really want to repeat that.

“ _Okay… As long as you do. But remember to drink lots too._ ” Kagami reminded him and Kuroko chuckled a bit.

“Yes, I will. Are already at the club?” He asked. Tetsuya #2 snuggled closer to him, and with his free hand he began to pet it.

“ _Just got here. But the door is locked, so I guess I’m the first one here. Oh, I saw captain and coach earlier today, so they know you won’t be here today… Umm…_ ” Kagami fell into a silence after that, and since Kuroko somewhat felt like he was preparing to say something, he just politely waited for his partner to be ready.

“ _Uhh, well. This is something coach said earlier, and I was kind of thinking about it. She said that people who suddenly lose their eyesight usually, well, get stressed. So I just wanted to ask if you’re fine and not, I don’t know, hiding the fact that you’re really scared or something…_ ” Kagami finally asked, his words rushed and hesitant. Kuroko could imagine the awkward look his light must have on his face right now, and he couldn’t help the slight smile spreading to his lips.

“I’m alright, thanks to you. You have made everything easy for me, so I haven’t been even able to feel stressed.” Kuroko explained with all honesty. Every time he had felt even a bit scared and unsure, Kagami had always been there by his side.

“ _A-ah? That so… Uh… Good to hear…_ ” Kagami stuttered on the other end, clearly embarrassed by what he had heard and Kuroko chuckled.

“Kagami-kun, I’m—”

“ _Uwah! Don’t just jump on my back like that, senpai! You surprised the crap out of me!_ ” Kagami exclaimed before he managed to finish what he was saying, and right away he could hear a familiar voice over the phone.

“ _Yo, Kagami~ Are you talking with Kuroko? Say hello from me and Mitobe!_ ” Koganei said cheerfully, apparently speaking right next to Kagami since his voice could be heard clearly over the phone.

“ _I’m trying to talk with him here! Would you mind giving me some space…_ ”

“ _Ah, you’re right! Mitobe said you’re kind of red, are you sure you’re alright?_ ” Koganei wondered and Kagami growled. Kuroko clutched his phone tightly as he waited for the situation on the other end to calm down before trying to even say anything.

“ _Yes, I’m completely alright! Ugh, sorry Kuroko. What were you saying?_ ” The light asked and Kuroko opened his mouth to continue only to realize he didn’t really remember what it had been.

“It seems like I forgot it already… I’m sorry, I’ll say it to you later if I remember. It seems like practice is about to start, so I guess I should let you go now.” He said and held the phone really close to his ear in order to hear Kagami’s answer properly over the background noise.

“ _Uh, yeah. I guess you’re right… I’ll hurry home as quickly as I can after practice. Is there anything you want for dinner?_ ”

“Vanilla milkshake, please.” Kuroko said, and the long sigh over the phone made his lips curve into a slight smile.

“ _You and your damn shakes. Fine, I’ll bring you one._ ”

“Thank you, Kagami-kun.” Kuroko said warmly.

“ _W-well, it’s just a shake. I’ll go now, okay?_ ” Kagami said, his voice sounding slightly embarrassed.

“Yeah. I’ll be here waiting for you. Bye...” Kuroko said, and took the phone off his ear. The silence that surrounded him now again felt heavy and crushing, and he turned the radio on again as he took it with him to the kitchen. As he walked, he soon heard the familiar paw-steps approaching him accompanied by a bark.

“Are you hungry too?” Kuroko asked as he opened the fridge door, and Tetsuya #2 barked cheerily, “I’ll put some food for you after I’ve put my food on the microwave, okay?” He said as he tried to find the food. Kagami had said it was… on what shelf? Unable to recall, he just decided to search the fridge through from up to down. It didn’t take him long to find the covered plate, and he took it out feeling a little bit proud of himself. He was really getting used to searching stuff with his hands.

While his food was getting heated in the microwave, he took out one can of dog-food and opened it. The dog barked excitedly as Kuroko laid out the food, and began to eat right away. Kuroko’s own stomach growled in response to the smell of food, but at the same time he realized he was somewhat hoping the microwave would never beep; that he had a bad feeling about eating.

The reason for that bad feeling was revealed to him soon enough when he took the first spoonful of the food and he felt his stomach being twisted by nausea again.

* * *

 

“Goddamn it!” Kagami cursed as the basketball got stolen from him again. Throughout the whole practice, he had had trouble concentrating and the series of mistakes was really starting to tick him off. Still, no matter how much he tried to concentrate, he’d soon start to think again what Kuroko had been about to say in the phone. He knew that it probably hadn’t been anything too important, but it still bugged him.

Not to mention that he was kind of worried. Without being able to see Kuroko he couldn’t be sure the other wasn’t just pretending to be alright in order to not make him worry. He shook his head to get all the thoughts out of his mind. He should trust his partner’s words, and just focus on the practice.

Soon enough he failed to dunk the ball for the umpteenth time today and Riko blew her whistle with an angry look.

“Look, Kagami-kun, if you’re not able to concentrate at all, go run around the school instead.” She said firmly while pointing at the door. Kagami knew there was little reason to even try to resist when she was so obviously right, so he just nodded and walked off the court. He could hear them making new adjustments to the teams as he opened the door outside and took off. It was slightly chilly outside, and he shivered a bit.

The running warmed him up quickly, and he sighed. He really hoped Kuroko would be fine, and that the shadow could come to school tomorrow as well. He couldn’t stand just worrying without any way to calm down.

As the thoughts consumed him, he thought about how there once was a time he hadn’t had anyone he worried about this much. Of course he cared about his family and thought about their well-being, but Kuroko was just on a whole different scale. He’d go to the ends of the world to make his partner feel better, and he really wished Kuroko would ask something of him, so that instead of worrying and thinking on his own he could actually do something.

Because he wasn’t really good at this worrying-thinking stuff.

He glanced at the school clock as he ran past the front yard, only to realize he still had half an hour before he’d get to go home. It was almost weird to wish for practice to stop; he couldn’t remember a time in his life when he had wished to be home instead of honing his skills but apparently you could feel that way as well. Kuroko had taught him so many things ever since they had met, and apparently he had just learned one thing more from his shadow.

When he was finishing his fifth or sixth lap around the school, Kagami saw Riko standing outside the gym, waving him over.

“What is it, coach?” He asked, wiping his sweat away from his forehead. He really wished this would be quick, or otherwise the cold air would catch him again.

“You’re worried about Kuroko-kun, right?” She said gently, and Kagami wondered for a second whether he was really that easy to read or that easy to predict, before Riko continued, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said those things during lunch break. Of course what I said is possible, but I’m sure Kuroko-kun is fine. If I made you worry unnecessarily, then it’s my fault you can’t concentrate.” She said with a remorseful look, and Kagami quickly shook his head.

“N-no, I’m worried for a whole different reason. Or well, what you said worries me too, but not as much...” He explained. Riko tilted her head slightly.

“Care to elaborate? I can try to give some advice or help.”

“Well I don’t know how to explain it well. I just feel like he’s pretending to be better than he is. But we just talked about this yesterday, and I want to trust in him…” Kagami said as he rubbed his hands together to keep himself warm. The chill air was already biting at his sweaty skin, but now he really wanted to hear what their coach had to say about this matter. She was obviously smarter with this stuff than he was.

Riko looked at him for a moment, before she smiled.

“Well, why don’t you trust in him then? If you already talked about this, I’m sure Kuroko-kun will tell you if something is wrong.” She said cheerily. Kagami stared at her for few seconds, wondering whether the answer could really be that easy.

But then he remembered the way Kuroko had smiled last evening, and he shook his head. He had to trust in his partner.

It had been wrong of him to doubt Kuroko. Realizing that, Kagami sighed in relief and grinned.

“Yeah, you’re probably right! I was probably just overreacting!” He said and Riko nodded in agreement, a bright smile donning her lips.

Kuroko was alright.

* * *

 

Kuroko stood in the balcony, enjoying the fresh air. He had managed to keep the food inside, but he could still feel a dull ache on his stomach. He had presumed Kagami would be coming home around now, and so he had decided to stand in the balcony in hopes that Kagami would notice him when he arrived and call out to him. He leaned against the rail and closed his eyes.

He knew that Kagami would be angry with him if he realized he had lied. But he also knew that the light was already worrying about him way too much than necessary, and common nausea was just something the doctor had said to expect. So it wasn’t doing any harm and wasn’t even dangerous, and would probably pass soon. He was already feeling better than earlier after all.

He rubbed his forehead. It made perfect sense, but he still could feel like he was doing something wrong.

The headache was gone, the nausea mostly gone, he had eaten all of the food Kagami had made for him and he had drunk water enough. He had done everything he had had to. There was no reason to feel bad.

“Kuroko?!” He heard a distant yell from down, and he waved his hand in the general direction of the voice. He couldn’t hear Kagami say anything after that, but he presumed the light had at least attempted to wave back at him.

He retreated back inside and wandered to the hallway to wait. Number #2 soon followed after him, probably realizing something was happening. It took less than a minute for the door to open.

“I’m back—whoa, why are you both waiting here?!” Kagami said in surprise as the dog barked at him.

“Welcome back, Kagami-kun.” Kuroko said, feeling the warmth of the other’s presence spreading to his body. The loneliness that he hadn’t even noticed haunting him disappeared like a fog.

“Yeah… Why were you standing in the balcony? What if your fever goes up again?” Kagami fussed immediately and before Kuroko could answer, he felt his hand being grabbed and a familiar object being placed into it.

“Thank you. And I was just catching a bit of fresh air as I waited for you to come back home.” Kuroko said and took a sip of the vanilla shake Kagami had brought him.

“A-ah, is that so…” Kagami said, sounding surprised, “Oh yeah, and some of the senpais wanted to come and see you, but I thought I should ask you first... Check how you’re feeling and all that.” He switched the topic as they headed towards the kitchen.

“I’m feeling good. It’s okay with me if they want to visit.” The shadow said as he headed towards the table to sit down, “How did the practice go?”

“Yeah, it went well. We played few matches on top of regular practice.” Kagami said shortly, and Kuroko tilted his head, expecting a bit more details, but only silence met him. Usually Kagami would explain a lot more even if Kuroko had been attending the same practice.

“Did your team win?”

“The other one, yes. Not the other one though.” He said curtly, only to add more to Kuroko’s suspicion. There were no complaints over the lost match, no boasting over the won match, no discussion at all whether Kagami felt like he had played well or not and whether he felt his teammates had played well or not. This was all beginning to bother Kuroko, but he decided not to ask about it. There was probably some reason for it, he concluded and took a sip of his milkshake.

“Are you hungry? Should I cook up something?” Kagami asked after a brief silence.

“I’m not really hungry, but you can cook for yourself already if you are.” The shadow answered. He didn’t want to admit it had been barely two hours since he ate, and that his stomach still felt full and aching.

“I ate few burgers on the way home, so I’m okay. It’s probably better to cook when the senpais arrive, since they’d probably ransack the fridge otherwise…” Kagami muttered to himself and Kuroko nodded in agreement.

Hopefully his appetite would have returned by then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is everything for now, I hope to finish the next chapter within the next week! Thank you for reading all the way here, and I hope you'll come back for the next chapter when I post it~


	8. Chapter 8

Kagami stared at Kuroko with concern as the shadow was pulled along with Tetsuya #2 they were taking out for a walk. They had decided to take him out before their senpais would arrive, and they were already heading back. The light had originally offered to hold the leash, but Kuroko had insisted he would be fine. During the whole walk Kagami had tried his best to stop himself from taking the leash away every time the dog saw something interesting and tried to run after it, surprising Kuroko and almost getting away.

A girl was approaching them, and Kagami swiftly wrapped his hand around Kuroko’s shoulder to pull him away from her way. Instantly he noticed that Kuroko’s temperature had indeed lowered from this morning, and he sighed in relief. He just hoped it would stay down as well.

“Thank you.” Kuroko said warmly, and Kagami could have sworn he even snuggled a little closer to him, like he was seeking warmth. He was wearing a warm jacket – mostly because of Kagami’s insistence – but he must’ve still be feeling a little bit of the cold, even if his fever was gone. The girl gave them a quick look before flashing a smile and the red-hair felt his cheeks heat up. Luckily the shadow hadn’t seen it… not that he would have probably cared. Kagami sometimes envied the occasional care-freeness Kuroko had.

The apartment building was already in sight, and the light came to the conclusion he could share his warmth the rest of the way. There shouldn’t be many by-passers in this short distance.

And he had missed his shadow this whole day, he didn’t really want to let go of him. Kuroko didn’t seem to mind either. Kagami could smell the faint fragrance from Kuroko’s hair, and he had to restrain himself from burying his face into the teal-colored mess. He really was too dependent on his shadow nowadays; something in his mind tried to remind him that he should probably try to learn to live without his partner.

But he didn’t really want to listen to it. He wanted to think that Kuroko wouldn’t mind being with him for years to come. As they walked, he briefly remembered what Kuroko had said to him yesterday, right before Midorima had arrived.

_“Well, I would be glad to have Kagami-kun as either one.”_

Kagami hoped it meant what he thought it could. Even if it was just a slight possibility, it gave him some cheer. Maybe all the times Kuroko had let him close meant something.

But now wasn’t the best time to bring it up, no matter what. He was too worried of his partner and just wanted to make sure he was alright first. Making him stress unnecessarily and possibly even making things awkward right now was too much of a risk.

He just hoped he could completely trust Kuroko’s claims of being fine, so that this unsettling feeling would leave him.

* * *

 

Kuroko took a better hold of the leash when he felt Tetsuya #2 pulling it. He didn’t want to get dragged along with the dog now, not as long as Kagami had his arm draped over his shoulders. It felt warm and safe here, and he was going to stay here as long as Kagami just allowed him to. He knew that the by-passers the light had helped him dodge had passed them long ago, but Kagami didn’t seem to mind.

It was definitely warm now; he had felt like the jacket by itself had been over-reaction from Kagami’s part, but it had proven to be quite needed. The wind had not reached the balcony as strongly after all, and it had taken him by surprise. His partner was however radiating warmth, but just as he was about to snuggle a bit closer Kagami suddenly moved away from him. For a second Kuroko was completely confused.

“You’re already here?!” Kagami raised his voice out of nowhere and it almost made Kuroko flinch in surprise. The situation cleared up for him when he heard Riko’s voice answer back, and he relaxed.

“Yup! We accidentally left a bit earlier than intended. Was this a bad timing?” She said cheekily and Kuroko shook his head. For a brief moment there was a silence and Kuroko tilted his head in confusion when nothing happened.

“… Whatever, let’s just go inside. We have yet to eat though, so I need to cook first…” Kagami grumbled and Kuroko could hear him starting to walk faster towards the house, and he did his best to keep up. Soon enough they seemed to have reached Riko and Hyuuga, as Kuroko could faintly smell the light perfume Riko wore on her days off.

“Hello there, Kuroko-kun. Has your fever gone down?” She asked and Kuroko nodded.

“Yes, I’m feeling better now. I apologize for missing practice.”

“Don’t worry about it, geez! Your health is more important here. Have you gotten used to not seeing yet?” She continued asking, and Kuroko slowly realized he’d be answering her for a while. He’d just have to make sure she wouldn’t get too worried; he didn’t want to give fuel to any concerns everyone probably had about his well-being already.

* * *

 

Riko had kept talking with Kuroko almost completely without a break after they arrived, and Kagami couldn’t blame the shadow when he slipped away to the bathroom after almost half an hour of answering questions. He was almost finished with making their dinner as well, when Riko approached him.

“Uh, I don’t want to make you worry here, since I could be wrong about this…” She started tentatively, and Kagami could immediately tell he wasn’t going to like what she had on her mind, “But I might have been too optimistic with what I said during practice. It really does seem like Kuroko is trying to hide how bad his condition actually is. But I don’t know, I could be reading it wrong or it might not even be anything big, honestly.” She said, resting her elbows against the counter.

“So you think so too…” Kagami sighed as he felt his thoughts getting relentless. He didn’t want to think about it, but it really was starting to seem Kuroko was still lying to him and while he hated being suspicious of his friend, even more he hated the fact that Kuroko might be feeling awful right now and he wasn’t doing anything about it. The shadow had said they were partners but maybe the words had rang shallower than it had originally seemed.

The worst part was that he didn’t know what was wrong with Kuroko. At least his temperature wasn’t up anymore – this he had confirmed when he came home – but other than that, he didn’t really have any clue. Heck, he didn’t even know whether his health was declining or whether he was just feeling stressed or depressed.

He didn’t know anything.

“Oh yeah, I’m just asking but you did call Kuroko-kun during the lunch break too, right? What did you talk about then” Riko asked, pulling Kagami away from his thoughts.

“Hm? Uh, I just asked how he was hanging on and had his headache gone away. Apparently I woke him up back then though, so I probably shouldn’t have called. How so?” Riko had started to frown slightly while listening to Kagami’s explanation, and the light wasn’t sure how he should take that.

“No, it’s just… I just felt like something was off when I asked Kuroko-kun about it, but I have no idea what. Might have been my imagination, really. By the way, this smells really good.” She said as she leaned closer to the pan, only to be shooed away by Kagami.

“That’s dangerous, coach.” He said and turned off the stove, “It’ll be ready soon, so go sit on the table with captain… please.” He added quickly as he realized his own rudeness. Riko just grinned and walked to the table to join the abandoned Hyuuga. She sat down just in time as Kuroko returned to the room.

Kagami really just hoped his partner was just as alright as he claimed to be. He stirred the food one final time before heading to set the table, reflexively avoiding looking at Kuroko. Somehow he was afraid of looking at his partner, scared of seeing the way his skin seemed to be paler than usually and the bags under his eyes. If they weren’t just signs of exhaustion, he’d have to face the fact that Kuroko was indeed hiding things from him.

* * *

 

Riko was trying her best to hold her grin in, as she watched how Kagami was pre-slicing the piece of steak for Kuroko. It reminded her of a mother preparing food for a young child, and even though she knew Kagami was surprisingly homely, it was still a sight to see. It was almost cute, the way Kagami tried so hard to assist Kuroko with his sudden disability. The gentleness of the light was something she wouldn’t have never believed the first day she had met him.

“Oh yeah, I guess Kuroko can’t cut the steak on his own…” Hyuuga said aloud, making Riko want to smack the back of his head as Kagami’s face flared red. Though, it was an interesting sight to see as well.

“W-well that’s just how it is!” Kagami said unnecessarily loudly as he finished slicing the steak and gave the utensils to Kuroko.

“I really appreciate this, Kagami-kun.” Kuroko said, smoothing the situation a little. After Kagami took his own share of the food, they all paid their gratitude for the meal and started to eat. Just after taking one mouthful Riko got once again a reminder of her own cooking skills. She had been practicing, but it seemed like she still wasn’t getting any better. His father did always finish the meals she made, but that idiot would do it even if she was feeding him poison.

For a moment a silence filled the room as they all focused on eating. Riko glanced at Kuroko, who was eating surprisingly confidently despite having few misses here and there. He was resilient, she had to give him that. It still didn’t erase the worry from her mind however.

She hadn’t wanted to say it to Kagami, but it hadn’t been just the talk about the lunch-break call that had bothered her. Many things Kuroko had explained had stroke to her as odd or somewhat missing, like he had been making up some of the stuff on the roll. The doctor had said that one of the rarer symptoms would be difficulty recalling some stuff, and even though there wasn’t any clear signs of that yet, Riko felt like she should keep her eyes on the situation for now. But as long as it was just her suspicion, she didn’t want to raise any unnecessary worry in anyone else.

So when they began to converse after their worst hunger had ceased, Riko noticed right away the way Kuroko didn’t really even try to participate in the conversation. Not that he usually was the most talkative of them, but he seemed distant and he seemed to snap out of his thoughts every once so often only to fall back into them again. She soon got so absorbed into observing him, that she completely fell out of the conversation too and had to be brought back by Hyuuga.

As she began to talk, she still kept half of her attention on Kuroko. She was going to find out the truth.

* * *

 

Kuroko found his thoughts getting distracted constantly, and he was getting annoyed by it. He wanted to keep up with the conversation, but his eyelids felt heavier each passing second and nausea was twisting his stomach again. He also felt slightly uncomfortable, like someone was staring at him. And while that might be the case, he had no real way of knowing and it was terribly haunting thought.

Overall, he felt awful.

He barely managed to empty his plate, and he politely refused when Kagami offered to give him some more. He didn’t want to stay another day alone in the house, and for that purpose he had to make sure he kept his nausea hidden. After all, it was just side-effect from the injury, so it wasn’t contagious and he wasn’t putting anyone under any risk of getting sick.

He quietly listened to the others talking and eating, trying to take in their words and participate in the conversation as well as he could. It didn’t take long till he started to feel himself nodding off, and he realized there was nothing he could do to fight against at this point.

So in his half-asleep state, he leaned his head against Kagami’s shoulder, his eyes closed. He could feel Kagami tense up, before relaxing and calling his name softly. Kuroko pretended like he hadn’t heard it – he wasn’t sure he could’ve answered anything coherent anyways at this point - and just let himself slowly fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading all the way here! My updates will be quite irregular but I will try to update as fast as I can. I hope to see you again!


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